Game On, Damon
by EdenParadise
Summary: Stefan is away for three weeks, and Elena is stuck with none other than Damon Salvatore for her company. So when they make a bet that could reveal their true feelings for each other, then well, things might not turn out so well.
1. The Mistaken Bet

"You know, when Stefan said to keep an eye on me, I don't think he meant it this literally."

For the past three days, I had been all but chained to the inside of the Salvatore's home, with none other than Damon Salvatore for my be-humbling company.

Yup, bring on the confetti.

As I laid down on the black leather of the couch, not even the leather could soothe my irritated nerves. "And if you weren't so damn persistent with it then maybe I could actually get something done."

Damon's smile was pure male arrogance. "Elena, you of all people know that I am a man of my word. So when Stefan said to keep an eye on things- or more preferably you- of course I had to oblige. In plus, I don't need you dying on me every five seconds out in the real world."

That wasn't fair. And it wasn't seconds…more like minutes.

"Well, you would never know. After all, I haven't stepped in the sunlight in over 72 hours."

Damon just shrugged, as if my concerns were the least of his problems. "Too much sun is bad for you."

I threw my arms up in exasperation and groaned. "How is this fair? Next time Stefan goes somewhere, I sure as hell am going with him."

Damon was so amused by my attempt at a threat that he looked up from his glass of who-knew-what and glared at me. He then raised a long pale finger. "And that is where I have to interfere. Of course I would have to disagree, even though we all know what wonderful company you are." Sarcasm coated his tone.

I sat up straighter and rubbed my temples. "I honestly don't think that I can take three more weeks of this."

"I'm wounded Elena. And here I thought we were beginning to enjoy each other's company."

I rolled my eyes at this. "Not even close."

Damon chuckled and receded to plopping down next to me on the couch. I resisted the urge to nervously scoot away.

"Well, if you are so tragically bored, then I do have some activities we can adorn." He grinned wickedly at me.

"Ugh!" I yelled, throwing a dark pillow at him.

"Take that as a no." Damon's voice came muffled behind the pillow.

It saddened me greatly to say, but we had (well, he had) created so much sexual tension between us that even Paris Hilton would even be shocked.

Well, it _was_ Damon we were talking about here.

If I said I was going to take a shower, he would ask to join me- sarcastically, I always hoped. I could never leave the clothes that I had packed anywhere in plain sight, in fear that he would be going through it in the next ten minutes.

I couldn't even say the word banana without him laughing. He was such a guy. Even worse, he was a vampire. So he was more like a freaky, man-vamp thingy with self-fulfillment issues. Just my dumb-luck I had to spend all this time with him.

I looked into Damon's patronizing blue eyes, and sighed, a long suffering sound coming between clenched teeth. What was I going to do with him?

He raised his hands, palm out. "Alright, I'll behave. But sooner or later you'll be good and give it." Damon lightly jumped off the couch and looked at me.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I already knew the answer. I was just hoping I had misunderstood some of that.

He crossed his hands across his chest as I glared at him. "I think you know what I mean."

I blushed slightly. For some strange reason, all our conversations led to sex.

"Yeah, but that's were your wrong. You think that all the girls will just throw themselves at you're feet." I stood up, forcing his closeness away.

"But…"

"Without compulsion. _That_ doesn't count." I quickly interrupted.

"Come on, Elena. We've been through this already."

"Enlighten me." I said dangerously, getting closer to him.

Oops. First major mistake with Damon. You never poke the viper.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

Damon's cocky smile was perched back on his handsome features. "I would love to, but I have a feeling Stefan wouldn't exactly approve."

God , how could he be so perfect and yet so horrible all at the same time? "You know that's not what I meant, Damon. And if you had any dignity left in your cold, dead body, you would know that, too."

"Elena, I have 170 years' worth of dignity bottled up, whereas you only have 18." He finished in a mocking tone I knew all too well. The sound made me want to laugh, even if I didn't know why.

Maybe I was crazy. It was hard to tell with Damon. Ask me when I wasn't in the presence of him and I could give you a straight answer. But with him? Never.

"You know, you actually could be responsible if you tried."

"Please, the last thing this little 'family' needs is another Stefan. I can barely stand one." Damon was pacing now, looking frustrated.

"What is it, now?" He was making me dizzy with his constant striding.

Damon just shook his head and glanced at me. In other words, he was making me extremely nervous. Damon did not pace, not unless the world was dropping bombs and all the blood in the world had mystically disappeared.

After a moment, he stopped and looked at me. "You wanna make a bet with me?

I waited to see if he were joking. He wasn't. "Oh, hell no. The last time I made a bet with you, I lost and ended up skinny dipping." By now, I had learned that it was not smart to make bets with any vampire. Humans always lost.

"Oh come on, it will be fun." There was that damn smile again. "And technically the whole skinny dipping thing was your fault," He grinned widely "Which by the way, I enjoyed watching."

I shivered. We made a bet that I could beat him at checkers, and of course, I lost. So I ended up stripping down in freezing weather and diving into the river. All while Damon sat on a rock with a huge ole' grin on his face and nonchalantly watched me.

The thing that I didn't want to admit is that I kind of liked it. Not the Damon seeing me naked part, but the rush of jumping into a river without clothes.

"Come on, Party Pooper. A little bet wouldn't hurt." Damon was laughing now.

Groaning, I looked up at him. "Fine. Whatever. What are we betting?"

"Alright Ms. Elena. I bet that I can make you forget Stefan for one whole day."

I huffed "And how are you going to do that exactly…?"

Damon grinned mischievously, his blue eyes flashing.

Damn!

"No! How could you even say that? What part of 'I hate you' do you not understand, Damon?" I started to run out of the room, furious, but he caught me before I could flee the scene.

"Sorry, but you can't go back on a bet. It's the golden rule." He didn't even seem fazed that I had said I hated him. He must have gotten it a lot.

"No!" I bellowed in his face, and he toke a surprised step back. "The golden rule is to respect people's space and privacy, and be nice to them, none of which you are doing. So just do us both a favor, and just drop it."

Damon looked temporarily stunned, but soon recovered. "I have plenty of time to convince you otherwise."

And with that… he was gone.


	2. Elena Gilbert, Idiot Of The Year

_Just to let you guts know, this is my first ever FanFic. So thank you so much for the reviews! _

_Alright here's chapter 2!_

The next couple of days Damon wouldn't even look at me let alone talk to me, but one night I had finally had enough.

I sat down on top of the kitchen counter and tried to catch his eyes. It was almost impossible.

"Ugg, what is your problem? You haven't said 2 word to me the part 5 days."

Damon still wouldn't look at me. "Wrong. I recall saying 'excuse me' and 'pass my shoes'."

"That's not much for conversation, Damon. I'm going crazy over here."

Damon shrugged his shoulders "You wanted me to leave you alone and so I am. Hope your happy."

"But I'm not. You may be a pain but I need someone to talk to."

Damon smiled a little. "Never thought that I would see the day that Elena Gilbert begged."

I pouted a little "I'm not begging, I'm just saying that a little conversation wouldn't kill you."

Damon smirked at the irony of the words.

I jumped off the counter and stood next to him. "What are you doing exactly."

He was throwing spices and peppers into a pan and stirring them. "Just making you something to eat."

"Oh." My voice was coated in surprise. He had never done something like that before. "So what's the occasion?" I laughed

Damon bumped his shoulder against mine. "Well, I'm not going to let you starve. In plus, I'm a kick ass cooker." He smirked

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the knife from his hands, ignoring the sparks that jutted up my arm. So much for being inconspicuous.

"Well, let me at least help you Mr. Kick ass cooker," I looked at him closely "You okay?" I asked lightly. He was still staring at me strangely.

"Yeah." It sounded like an uncertain question though.

"Alright."

I put my focus back on the red tomato I was dicing and occasionally glanced at Damon out of the corner of my eye. He was still nonchalantly stirring the peppers. He was defiantly the one to stay cool in a crisis.

I took a big breath and touched his arm. He jolted away as if I shocked him.

I mumbled 'sorry' and tried again. "What I said a couple of days ago, I didn't really mean to be so harsh."

Damon shrugged "I was being an ass. You had every right to blow up on me."

"No, not really. You mad a bet and I accepted. So I have to face the consequences." I gulped so hard it hurt my throat. "And that's why I really am willing to take on the bet."

Damon was so stunned he dropped his spoon.

I almost laughed at his expression. Almost.

"What?" He chocked out

I tried to sound indifferent but failed miserably. " You heard me. You bet me that I would forget Stefan for one day with…sleeping with you," I had a hard time getting that out. "And I bet you that I can get you to say the golden words."

My hand was unsteady as I dropped the knife and stuck out my hand towards him. "So do we have a deal?"

Damon just stared at me, he obviously didn't believe this. To tell the truth neither did I. "Your joking right? What's the catch?"

"Nothing." I took his hand-once again ignoring the sparks- and shook it.

"Why?" Damon had a lot of questions today.

It was my turn to shrug. "Might as well have some fun while were alone." It came out kind of gross sounding and I almost smiled.

"What about Stefan?"

I sighed as uneasiness pooled in my stomach. I did love him, but… "Well it was his fault for leaving us alone know wasn't it?" I grinned secretly and he swallowed.

Ha! Know he knew what it felt like the be the victim of seduction games.

"So how much are we betting exactly?" Damon flipped off the burner and turned to me.

"Well, if I lost then I would have to skinny dip but if you lost," I grinned at him "Then you have to strip down and walk around the town naked. Only one time though."

Damon just stared at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe I had. "You do know that you're going to lose the bet right?"

Yup. I thought. I'm just to crazy to shut my big mouth. "Well sorry, we shook on it so there's no going back now. Unless you're scared." I wiped my hands on a towel near by and looked at him calmly. Inside my body screamed "_you've lost it Elena Gilbert! You're crazy! what are you doing? Danger, danger, danger!_

I wouldn't even be surprised if Damon heard it himself.

He seemed a little shocked that I assumed he would be scared. "Fine, you've got yourself a deal. But don't come crying to me when you lose."

I squinted my eyes at him. How could he be so arrogant and happy about everything that he does and still manage to make me feel like such a child. If anyone should be the 10 year old it should be him and not me.

I walked over to Damon and invaded his personal space just like he does to me over and over and tried to keep a steady grin. " I'm really going to laugh when I win."

Keeping his eyes on me with a strange glint in them he whispered, "Game on, Elena." His lips were so close we were centimeters apart.

He started to lean in, but as quickly as I could I suddenly jumped back as he looked at me in a startled haze. "I'm going to make you miserable, Damon Salvatore. I'm finally going to show you what it feels like to be beaten by sexual Innuendo comments every day I'm around you." I turned and after a couple of steps I looked back. " I'm going to take a shower…you're not invited."

Leaving a very shocked looking Damon behind me.

I was half way up the stairs when Damon's voice spun me around again. "Elena?"

My sigh was long suffering. Why couldn't he just let me go already? "What know, Damon?"

"What exactly are the 'golden words'?"

I secretly smiled. I was hoping he would ask this question. "I love you. I bet you that I can get you to say 'I love you' by the end of three weeks. Happy hunting, Damon."

I didn't want to look at Damon's face. I could already tell what it would look like.

Oh, yes. Game on, Damon.

_Dear Diary,_

_I'm a idiot. If I don't right tomorrow it's because the stupidity finally got to me. I also learned that male's aren't half as stupid as they look. Weird._

_Love, Elena_

I sat across from Damon during at dinner.

"Nervous?" He asked cockily

I dropped my fork and glared at him. "And why should I be nervous?" What a stupid question. Of course I was nervous! For the next 3 weeks he would be trying to get into my pants.

"You know why. Did you ever even stop to think that I could just compel you to sleep with me?"

I snorted "You don't scare me, Damon. And I'm not nervous," Lie! "I'm just guilty," Lie! "I never should have made the stupid bet. It's just going to get us in trouble."I could have sworn I saw his smile falter and I had to suppress a laugh.

"Well, I guess we could…"I could hold it in any longer. I burst out laughing. "Wow, Damon."

He looked at me a little bemused. "What know?"

I popped some celery in my mouth "Just admit it, you want to win the bet.""Yeah, it's not like I wanna walk around the town…"

"No no. I mean you want to sleep with me. Just drop the act already. You said it yourself, you're easy like that."

Was that a blush on his face or was it just the lighting?

"Whatever." He grumbled and then got up out of his chair.

I caught up with him before he could flee the scene and grabbed his wrist. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to show you how it feels.""How what feels?" He sounded frustrated

It was my turn to blush "To make all of you're inappropriate comments all the time. Do you even know how annoying it gets some times?"

Damon sighed "Yeah, I do," He smiled then "Its just really fun bugging you sometimes."

I couldn't help but let out a tiny smile.

"And you're right I do wanna win the bet." He brushed some hair out of my eyes. With that he slowly and reluctantly kissed me on the cheek.

I tried to look up and confront him but when I did, of course he was gone.

I rubbed my forehead and blew out a breath.

What had I done?

_A/N: See that review button down there? Yeah, well let me lte you in on a little secret. It magic. It had enough power to make me a very happy girl!_

_I should have the next chapter up soon!_


	3. The Mighty Clothes Burgular

That night I went to sleep on the couch ,but sure enough when I woke up I was in Stefens bed, which was temporarily mine.

Damon could be a sweet guy…behind the fangs of course.

I lifted myself off the bed a little and squinted as the morning sun peaked through the blinds. I felt oddly groggy today. Maybe Damon's presence was taking a toll on my sleeping or something.

I lazily got out of the bed and grabbed a towel hoping that a good cold shower would wake me up out of my hazy stupor.

The door clicked behind me and I hastily locked it. I knew that a lock really couldn't keep Damon out if he wanted in but it was just another caution that I persisted on taking. You never could be too careful.

I stripped off my clothes and turned on the water to a cold setting and jumped in.

Stupid vampires. They always had to take things so literally. If I mad a bet with, lets say, a regular person then I wouldn't have gotten myself in so much trouble. But I still had a feeling that Damon was going to win even if I wanted to sleep with him or not.

The thought made me scrub in my shampoo harder.

_Oh, Stefan. Why did you have to leave me alone with him?_

Why couldn't Damon just have gone to Italy instead of Stefan? Then I wouldn't be tempted to make bets like all stupid people would and wave it in his face like a flag of some sort. The kind of flag that says _Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!_

Well, I probably would have ended up in this situation anyway, so what's the big idea anyway.

I knew I had to get out of the shower sometime so I reluctantly turned the knob off. I definitely did not want to face him today. Today would mean that both of us would be trying to get our part in on the bet.

I just didn't know how to do my part. How was I going to get Damon to say "I love you" Exactly? I mean he doesn't love me. Right?

I shuddered at the thought, the last thing I wanted to do was repeat history. You might as well just make my tombstone already and put "To another history repeated" right in it.

Steeping out of the shower I quickly wrapped my towel around my soaking body. It always felt like Damon would barge in at any moment, and I really did not want that happening.

I opened the bathroom door back up and back into Stefan's room, looking for my duffle…

Where was my duffle bag?

It was right there next to the bed and it had held all of my clothes, and know it was just magically gone?

I scowled and dropped down on all floors trying to look under the bed while also trying to keep the towel to my body.

Sure enough there was no bag full of clothes to be scene. Just a perfect and clean and disappointing nothing.

I almost screamed in irritation. I knew exactly what happened to them.

Two words. Damon Salvatore.

Sorry it's so short. I just got back from a short road trip and I'm typing with a broken finger. It kinda hurts from all the typing. Hope you enjoyed even if it was painfully short J


	4. Hijacking Isn't Nice

Oh god, oh god, oh god. It was a constant loop of words in my head. How could Damon just take my clothes and then just take off? Infect he was probably laughing about it right know.

I scowled at the door. I couldn't just prance down there with a towel on and act like nothing was wrong.

Oh come on Elena, just do it you coward. What's the worst that could happen? I shivered. There was a lot that could happen. Like, oh I don't know, Damon trying to take off the stupid towel!

If only Stefan hadn't left me alone with the only person in the world that could destroy everything I ever worked up too.

I rubbed my arms. It was getting a little cold up here. I looked at the door again and took a tiny step towards it, chanting to myself that I just needed to get my clothes and nothing was going to happen.

Abandoning all my self dignity, I finally pushed myself towards the door and swung it open as hard as I could.

If I could I swear to god I would kick his miserable ass.

Clutching my towel tighter around my body I jogged down the stairs only too find Damon sitting on the couch nonchalantly reading a book. What an idiot.

If its one thing I knew about him its that he does not read. Unless he knows he did something wrong.

Was that a smirk on his face?I couldn't be sure so I stormed over to were he was lounging, picked up the stupid book he was 'reading' and slammed it down on the ground.

He could have stopped me if he wanted to but I have a feeling he just wanted to see my reaction. Well, good because my reaction was going to murder him.

"What the hell? What did you do with my clothes? I had a whole bag full of them and know there magically gone? Give them back know!"

I was right. Damon had a big ol' smirk plastered on his face. He looked at me, well, he looked at my body and then his eyes finally lingered on my face.

"If I knew you were going to react this way I would have done it a long time ago." He crossed his arms over his chest, never faltering in his smile.

Great, I hoped he savored the moment because I was going to kill him.

"Just give them back, Damon. Is this just part of the bet? Because frankly it's not gonna work." Unfortunately my voice had turned weak, as if I had given up. That's because I had. There was no use negotiating with a vampire.

Then why had I made the bet? Oh, right. Because I'm an idiot with nothing better to do then make bets with vampires.

Damon laughed some more and grabbed one of my arms. Before I could react he had pulled me close. Way to close for my personal liking. Despite my obvious efforts I couldn't yank my hand away.

"What are you doing? Let me go." I tired squirming but he just held me tighter. My towel was in danger of coming undone, and I was in danger of doing something that would get us both in trouble.

Oh, great. What was I thinking? Maybe he was getting to my head or something

"Come on, Elena," He was whispering in my ear, and I concentrated on breathing normally. He could hear my heartbeat. " Do you honestly think that I would go through this day without trying to get you in my bed. I'm not that stupid."

I turned my head away from his, trying to think clearer. "Aren't you? You hijacked my clothes, that was stupid."

He was tugging at the bottom of my towel "I had to try. But if you really want them I could give them to you."

I looked into his eyes. I was in series dog doo. "Just give them back, otherwise were going to get nowhere." My voice had turned breathy, as if I was sighing the words in to his mouth. He probably smelled an easy victory

"I'll give them to you on one condition." my legs tingled as I tried to struggle away from the grab he had on my ankle.

"What?"

Damon leaned closer, so close that he almost touched my lips. "Sleep with me."I knew the words were coming but it's not like I could stop them. I was undeniably weak in s situation like this. I had no fight and I couldn't deny that he was eating away at my self preservation.

I pushed as hard as I could on his shoulders just as his lips brushed mine and this time I managed to wiggle away and plop myself on the ground with an "ooff."

Luckily Damon's eyes were closed from his hard laughing because my towel had slipped from my grip and laid sprawled around me.

Just as he was about to open his eyes I frantically grabbed at the scrape of covering and secured it around my body once more.

It wasn't even noon yet and I still managed to embarrass myself enough for a lifetime.

I took a steady breath "Tell me were my clothes are or I swear to god I will find a way to hurt you."I still didn't scare him.

He flashed me a smile. "You might need to borrow some clothes."

I pushed up my eyebrows and tapped my foot. I was tired of this game. "And why is that?"

Damon suddenly stood up and I took two cautious steps back.

"There in the wash, they should be in there for another two hours."

I looked up in udder disbelief but he was gone.

So how exactly did I get myself in these situations? My clothes weren't even dirty!

With nothing else I could do I plopped myself back on the couch and rubbed my temples. This whole thing was giving me a huge headache.

Know I just had to find a way to get him back. Right, like that was humanly possible.


	5. Questions

I stared at the shirt that was somehow placed on Stefan's bed. All I could do was glare at it. If Damon thought that I was going to wear his shirt then he was sadly mistaken.

Scowling, I picked it up by the collar and smelled it.

Yup, definitely Damon's. The one thing that I wouldn't tell him though was that he was absolutely the most wonderful smelling man in the world.

Well, at least I thought he was a man. He kinda just acts like a two year old with mental problems.

I stared blankly at my cold feet. The towel wasn't really working out, but I just couldn't go down there with nothing but his stupid back shirt on. What if the neighbors came over and saw? They would probably be shocked with me in a towel too, I reminded myself.

I spun around angrily and slammed Stefan's door in front of me. I picked back up the shirt and dropped the towel down beside me, and with a big sigh I slipped on the shirt and buttoned it up.

I was only on the third button when suddenly the door clicked behind me.

And like the insane person I was, I spun around. It wasn't a very good idea considering the shirt wasn't even really on.

"I like you better like this." Was that a blush on Damon's face?

I spun around again and hurriedly buttoned it all the way up. It came up mid thigh. Way to short for my liking, but hey, what could I do about it?

When I was facing him again I glared, but he didn't flinch. He could probably stand there for weeks if he wanted too. "Some people knock. What do you want know? Or are you just here to mock me or something?"Damon cocked an eyebrow. "Funny. So I'm guessing knows the bad time to tell you that you could have locked the door."I wasn't falling for that one "You just would have broken it so what's the use?"

Damon just smiled or smirked and walked over to me with his hands crossed over his chest.

I took a couple of anxious steps back but had to stop when the bed cut walking.

"I hate to say it, Elena, but I'm gonna win the bet." He said in a singsong voice. It was light and mocking but I had a feeling that he meant it more then he led on.

How did I always get myself in these situations anyway? He was lingering close to my mouth and I could go anywhere. I was a sad cornered, little fawn. Oh, joy.

But just when I thought he was going to lean in and kiss me he pulled back and let his eyes pierce mine. "Breakfast is ready."

I stared dumbfounded after him. He barged into the room while I was getting dressed just to tell me that breakfast was downstairs?

It seemed my face was in danger of being permanently damaged by the scowl I put off as I picked up the towel and threw it in the bed.

I didn't really want to go downstairs but I was hungry and there was nothing in this room that I could eat, unless I wanted to eat the wood.

I sat across from Damon at the dinning room table, silently munching on eggs. The silence was awkward and I always felt like the shirt I was wearing was in danger of coming undone. So most of the time I was checking the shirt instead of eating.

"I didn't know you could cook." Of course I was the first one to break the silence.

I could practically feel Damon's eye roll even if I wasn't looking up. "Over the years you learn a couple of things.""What kind of things?"

He shrugged a little "Cooking is one. I garden too."

I chocked on the eggs as I bit out a laugh. "Damon Salvatore gardening? I couldn't imagine that."

He winced a little "There wasn't much to do in that time period. I got bored a lot."

"Obviously." I chuckled again and scooped some more eggs in my mouth. After some thought I asked another question. "How old where you when you…died exactly?"

Damon's eyebrows scrunched together "And why do you want to know that?"

It was my turn to shrug "I just wanna know, that's all."

He dropped the pen and paper he was writing on and looked at me. "21, I died close to my birthday."

I'm sure my jaw dropped. I sure couldn't imagine dying close to my birthday and then waking up a couple hours later wanting to devour people. "Oh." Was all I could say, what else was there to say? "Well, you sure don't act like a 21 year old." Of all the things I could have said why did I have to choose that?

Damon scoffed "That's because I'm not. I'm a 169 remember."

I shook my head. "You know that's not what I meant. You act like a little kid, Damon."

He laughed. "Just livin' life to the fullest."

I rolled my eyes "So is tormenting me part of the plan to live life to the fullest or something?"

"Nope," He popped the "p" "Tormenting you is part of the plan to get you annoyed. Sooner or later you'll give in and give me what I want."

I swallowed "So all you want to do is win the stupid bet?"

Damon smirked "you betcha."

Great, this was going to be a long 3 weeks.


	6. Water War

Three days had gone by and Damon was making me extremely nervous. I probably should have been glad that he was leaving me alone but then it also made me agitated to think that he could jump out of a closet at anytime and try to eat me. Not exactly what I want to be thinking when I go to bed.

Even the slightest little noise that was made would make me jump.

Thankfully I had gotten my clothes back, but somehow (and I don't even want to think why) my best shirt was gone. I had a pretty good idea of what happened to it though.

And to top it all off I still hadn't thought of a way to get Damon back for stealing my clothes, let alone succeeding in winning the bet.

That one was still a stumper. Getting Damon Salvatore to say "I love you" was like getting the Terminator to wear a skirt and hold a teddy bear. Impossible.

Well, at least I hope it wasn't. Otherwise I was doomed to a life of embarrassment and cold water, with Damon gleefully laughing at me.

Hey, sounds like my life now.

So here I was, sitting pathetically next to a window, trying to figure out how to build a time machine a go back and erase all the stupid things that I've done with Damon. Just another sad thing that was never going to happen.

"You want to tell me what you're doing?"

I jumped a little as Damon's voice broke through my inner babbling.

To tired to lie, I told him the truth. "Just trying to undo things that cant be undone."

Damon laughed. What else was new. "Oh, bummer. And here I thought that you were actually giving up."

I rolled my eyes and spoke to myself. "Yeah, if only I could."

He obviously heard me but he still didn't say anything.

I turned around to face him. "What, no Damon snaky remark? Don't tell me your going soft. It's only been 8 days."

That seemed to get his attention because he stared at me with cold, blue eyes.

I mock pouted a little and got up from my seat. "I'm sitting here because I'm so bored I could kill myself, so why don't you just run along and go suck on some girl."

With that I brushed part him, well, it tried to brush past him because he grabbed my elbow an spun me around 'till I was facing him. What I saw shocked the crap out of me.

For the first time in my life I had seen what Damon looked like as a full blown vampire. Not just the growling, but the eyes, veins…and unfortunately the fangs.

I swear to god I almost peed myself.

His voice was menacing. "Take it back, Elena."

I gulped but tried to stand my ground. "No. Why should I if it's true." I was probably the most stupid person on the planet.

So what he did next came as a big surprise. He picked me up as if I weighed nothing more but a Twinkie and slung me over his shoulder. At first I was too shocked to move my limbs, but then the shock set in and I sat my arms and legs in motion.

"Let go of me!" I was panting from my constant flailing.

I couldn't be sure but I swear there was laughter in his tone. "Sorry, not until you take it back."

I tried clawing at his jacket, knowing that it would piss him off the most, but he didn't even budge let alone put me done.

Actually he was budging, he was walking up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" My voice was strained, all the blood rushing to my head, making me very dizzy. "Put me down or I swear to god I will throw up on you." I threw one more punch at his back.

Damon just laughed as if this were nothing. And I don't know about him, but this was a big deal to me!

He was finished walking up the stairs and was know walking to… his door? Oh, god. What was he planning?

I tried struggling some more as he opened his door and started walking towards the bathroom, but his grip just got tighter. He was probably cutting off all the circulation to my legs by know, and my head felt in danger of exploding. That couldn't be a good sign.

"Come on, Elena, one last chance. Take it back."

His tone was playful, so I giggled to myself -even if he could hear me- and punched his back again. "Never."

"Alright, just remember you asked for it."

He pulled back the thick black curtain to the shower and turned the knob so a steady stream of water was rapidly filling the unusually large tub.

Realizing what he was doing I started to panic. "Come on let me go! This isn't funny!"

But he was way past hearing my petty attempts at negotiating and instead he started to take off my shoes, and still managing to keep a firm grip on my legs, even if I all I wanted him to do was drop me so I cold make my mistake.

I tried putting up the fight so he couldn't get the shoes off, but as soon as his hand made the connection I was trapped. I sure as hell wasn't saying I was sorry though. I wasn't that weak. For all I cared he deserved it. My only regret was that I didn't put some profanities in the sentence while I spoke it to him.

He slowly slid of me shoe, making a show of doing so, and started on the other one.

There was nothing I could do, except for maybe just watch him slid off the other shoe and contain my head from leaking all the rushed blood from my ears.

"Wow, Elena, haven't had this much fun since…" He stopped for a second, and for a second I thought he was going to let me go, but he just shook his head as if he was dismissing the thing he was going to say.

I had a scary feeling that it was along the lines of Katherine. That thought made me unusually sad even if I didn't know why.

The tub was filled to the brim, and I knew as soon as I looked at it that if I apologized or not that he was still going to throw me in anyway, so when he asked me again I shrugged and in I went.

The water splashed around me as I went in. Luckily I was ready for this, so I managed to close me eyes and mouth in time and safely break the surface without drowning myself.

As soon as I looked up and wiped the water from my face and smoothed my absolutely soaked hair back, I noticed two things.

One was that the water had brimmed over and was spilled all across the floor, making a huge mess, and two was that Damon was laughing so hard he was bent over with his eyes closed.

I snatched at the opportunity and grabbed his hand until he stumbled and his foot hit the edge of the tub, sending him toppling into the water after me.

I shielded my face as he went in and the water once again spilled out of the tub and splashed in my face.

He was bigger then me so he made an exceptionally bigger splash then I did.

I really must have caught him by surprise too, because when he came back up he was spluttering up water.

I put my mouth in front of my mouth but even that couldn't contain the laugh that was bursting from my lips.

All he did was glare at me, spitting out some more water in the process.

So here we were, one disturbingly good looking vampire, who's vampire brother was out trying to murder there evil vampire lover, and one stupid girl, who had made a bet with a vampire, while her vampire boyfriend was away, and somehow she was sitting in a tub with that vampire's brother.

My head really hurt know. I still laughed though when Damon looked down into the water and chewed his lip.

"At least I took off you're shoes."

I laughed harder than I had in a long time and flung some water in his face, which only made him scowl harder and fling some water right back at me.

Pretty soon there was more water on us and on the floor then there was in the tub.

The scary thing? I can't even remember being mad at him. That wasn't good.

I sighed and looked down at my clothes. There went another pair that had to be washed. It seemed like I was going through a lot of clothes lately.

I started to stand up, but my foot must have slipped on something ( can you even slip on water?) because before I knew it I was sprawled out on Damon, who was know laughing in my ear.

I hated to admit it but the feel of it sent shivers down my spine.

Not exactly wanting to feel that with my boyfriend's brother, I tried to get up again. This time Damon caught my arm before I could escape the tub.

I wanted to protest, but as soon as I looked into his eyes I couldn't talk, move, or breath.

He was holding me completely immobile.

The funny thing with this was that he wasn't trying to compel me or anything, he was just simply looking at me with pure blue eyes. I had never really seen eyes like that before. Vampire or not.

_What are you doing, Elena? Move you idiot, you aren't supposed to be in the shower with Damon! _I thought in my mind. _Move!_

I didn't move a muscle.

Not wanting to move closer, but also wanting to move closer at the same time, I was faced with a dilemma.

All I could think of at the time was:

_Elena, you're in deep crap…_


	7. You Didn't Have To

_Don't do it, Elena!_

Big, red, flashy light were going off in my head telling me to get the hell away from Damon, but my body still couldn't muster the strength to move. I just knew that I had to do something, and quick before my bones became permanently locked and I would never be able to move again.

Maybe Damon was slowly making me crazy. It was only a matter of time before his head games finally started eating away at my thin self control, and not to mention my sanity.

But I didn't have to do anything, Damon was the one who moved his gaze away from me first. That kinda made me embarrassed. After all, I was the one who was supposed to snap back a response and get off of him as quick as possible. Geez, where was I when I needed me most?

_In Damonland. _I thought, but then I winced. I was not supposed to be acting this way. I wasn't a nut job, so why was I acting like one?

"Maybe we should get up. My legs are going numb." I couldn't tell if he were joking or not; he sounded pretty serious to me.

I blushes and looked down at his legs. They were being ultimately crushed by mine. So much for being sexy.

Oh, boy. Know I was thinking of being sexy in the presence of Damon. If only I told him these things, then he would have a whole 'nother line of crude things to say.

I started getting up, trying my best not to fall down again, as the water sloshed around me and dripped off my body. When I was finally standing up, I reached out a hand towards Damon, which he gratefully took.

It made me wonder what his true intentions were. He could have gotten up by himself just as easily as I could, but still he seemed to linger on my hand as he stood up. But then I shuddered, I knew exactly what his true intentions were. He was only trying to get me into bed with him.

_Maybe he really doesn't care about you, Elena. Maybe you're just a ploy to win the bet. _I stopped because I was in danger of sounding crazy.

I still couldn't ignore the sparks that shot up my fingers, hand, arm and then finally all the way to my heart when he grabbed my hand. Just like the time when I grabbed the knife from him in the kitchen. Except this was a tad more intimate then cutting and throwing peppers into a pan.

Pushing away all the thought that were over flowing my brain, I got out of the tub with Damon closely by my side.

I almost smiled down at the flood we had created in the bathroom, but knowing that I was the one who was going to have to clean it up was enough for me to get rid of the grin.

I pushed myself through the gallons of water that seemed to be on the floor and turned around to face Damon. For probably the 4th time today he surprised the hell out of me.

Completely shirtless, enough to make me swoon at his feet. And he didn't even know what he was doing to me…

_Girl, you have it bad_. I sang in my head.

So naturally before he picked up his head from his shoes, I quickly looked away and into the mirror that was facing my way.

Yikes, I looked like one of the girls from the Saw movies. Makeup completely smeared, like I had been crying for hours. My hair was a complete limp mess and I was freezing my butt. I tried to wipe the better of the makeup away but I just ended up making it worse.

My hands flopped down uselessly at my sides as Damon looked at me. One look from him and I new he was suppressing a smile.

"You kinda look like a raccoon. A rabid, crazy, but surprisingly cute raccoon."

I didn't exactly know if this was a complement of not so I just scowled at him.

I looked around at the bathroom. We sure knew how to make a mess of things…literally. "This is your fault you know."

Damon just shrugged his shoulders and threw me a deep purple towel. He should have known that my hand eye coordination wasn't the best in the world. I watched helplessly as it slipped from my fingers and made it's way towards the pools of water we had made. Except for it never made it there. Before I could even say anything, the towel was gone, almost as if it disappeared in mid air.

I looked at Damon only to see that the towel was back in his hands and he was slowly walking towards me. "Try not to drop it this time. This is the only one clean enough to touch."

I snatched it away and held a firm grip on it. "I'm going to buy you more towels, either that or you need to stop taking so many showers."

Damon had turned and started walking out the door. "What can I say, I'm a man of hygiene."

I stared, eyebrows up, as he made his way out of the bathroom. No he was a man who knew how to make spectacular entrances and exits.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

"What are you doing?" Damon asked as I scribbled on a piece of paper.

"Making a list of things I need." I tucked a piece of my thankfully dry hair behind my ear.

We even managed to get the bathroom somewhat clean without causing anymore damage.

"And why are you making a list?"

I squinted my eyes at him as he stared at me with clear eyes. "You ask a lot of questions. I'm making a grocery list. Where getting dangerously low on fruit."Damon rolled his eyes "Of course we are."

"And," I continued "I hate to say it but you need more towels. They aren't just magically going to appear." But the real reason was because I didn't want him to catch me without a towel securely around my body. Awkward.

"Towels are overrated." As soon as he said it I immediately scowled at him.

"No need for the inappropriate comments."Damon huffed out a sigh and left me still writing on my piece of paper.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

"Nicest day I've ever seen around here."

We were walking towards Damon's car. He was right, it was a beautiful day. "Why does that seem as if it bugs you."

"Sun hurts my eyes." He said simply. As if to prove his point the pulled his sunglasses down from his head and put them into place.

I nodded to myself as I yanked open the passenger side of the car door and plopped myself down in the chair. "I thought that you're ring was supposed to protect you from the sun."

"yeah, it just protects the sun from burning me alive, not hurting my eyes."

I nodded again and chewed my lips in thought. "Anything else I should know?"Damon smiled a quick upturn of his mouth. "Virgin blood taste bad."

I could feel my mouth fall open. "Are you serious?"

He laughed this time. "No, blood is blood. It all taste the same, Elena. Well, except maybe yours. I'm pretty sure yours taste better than most." He winked at me and I hit him on the shoulder.

"That's not funny." But I couldn't help but laugh myself.

"Yes it is. Actually, if it were true then it would be funny." He flashed me a rare brilliant smile.

I liked those kind of smiles. They brightened up his whole face. And even though I couldn't see his eyes because of the glasses, I knew that they were sparkling with a mischievous glee. The kind of glee that you see on a kid's face. Because in some ways he was a kid. A big full-grown vampire kid.

Well, I guess he wasn't that full-grown. He was just 21, just a young man.

I then realized that hate didn't make you ugly, Damon was definitely not ugly, hate made you old.

Not physically but mentally too.

We continued that car ride in the same kind of awkward silence. The kind of silence where there's so much to be said that nobody says anything at all because your to busy wondering if the other person is going to say something first. It sounded confusing because it was, and the longer the silence went on the longer I was wondering what he was thinking. It was hard to tell with those sunglasses on though. Maybe he wanted it that way, not having to say anything at all.

It was like a huge bubble of unknown tension was building up to something big, pressing against are mouth so that we couldn't talk.

The I realized what kind of tension it was.

Something along the lines of sexual tension

Great…

Just what I needed, another thing I needed to keep in check. I had a whole list of things that I couldn't do with Damon during my stay. Stefan should have known that something was bound to happen.

He was the one who was worried about are "friendship, " if that was even what this was. So technically anything that happened stayed between the two of us.

I hope it did anyway. Wouldn't want anything I didn't want to getting out. What was gonna happen anyway, when Stefan come back and asked what I did?

Made a bet with Damon that could ruin our relationship, ignored the electric shock he gives me, looked at his chest, sliced pepper with him, shared an unwanted bath with him, and oh, don't let me forget that I kinda wanted to sleep with him during some time period.

Nope, I don't exactly think that one would work.

Suddenly Damon looked over at me quickly, the sun reflecting off his ring. "What are you thinking about?"

I let out a long breath that I had been holding for quite some time, relaxing know that the tension was broken. Or was it?

"Nothing, I was just thinking about stuff."

"You mean me?"I bolted up in my seat. What, know he could read minds too?

But then I looked over and realized that he was just joking, and I forced out weak smile.

It was to late though. I was caught red handed.


	8. Cornered

Damon's smile only broadened as I tried to convince him over and over that I was fine and I was just thinking about things.

"You were thinking about me." He said for about the thousandth times today. Even as we were shopping he still wouldn't let the whole concept go.

"So what were you thinking about me for?" He pried, while I was about 4 seconds away from asking the nearest clerk to get security and tell them that this man was harassing me. I couldn't do that though. He would just compel them and say that it was a huge misunderstanding. Either that or he would just eat them.

Fed up with all his accusations, I pushed the cart into his stomach a little more forceful then necessary and glared at him. " You stay here. I'm going to the bathroom."

Before he could say something else to embarrass me I was already gone, practically sprinting to the nearest women's room. I didn't really need to go to the bathroom. I needed to get a grip on my sanity, tell myself that I was just gonna have to live with the fact that he was a psycho. Not exactly the easiest thing to do.

As soon as I opened the door to the bathroom I reeled myself over to the mirror and looked at myself long and hard. There was nothing wrong with me on the outside. No sign of Post Traumatic Stress or me going insane. But inside was another story. Inside I was burning, every organ in my body telling me that I needed to stay away from Damon or I would be put in the mad hatter house. Or Stefan would be forced to hate me for all of eternity. Something I didn't want, couldn't handle.

I tore my face from my reflection and turned the knob to the sink on, letting the cold, refreshing water seep through my fingers and calm my nerves a little.

I bent over and splashed my face with some of the water and prayed to god that it would work. Naturally, I didn't expect anyone to answer.

"Your going insane, Elena Gilbert." I spoke quietly to myself. With a big sigh I reluctantly turned of the water. I then reached for a towel to dry my face, but when I did so I caught a dark reflection in the mirror. Or so I thought because the second I looked back it was suddenly gone. Well, I was insane, so what else was I supposed to suspect? A ghost?Shaking my head I stood up straighter, trying to convince myself that everything was fine and that I was just over reacting like I usually did. I had a reason though, I was constantly around vampires. And there objectives consisted of killing me and/or seducing me. Probably the seducing me part first.

I stood straighter and turned around, eyes closed and rubbing my temples for I know had a colossal headache brewing in my brain.

That was when bumped into something hard. Only it didn't hurt. Preparing myself to say a feeble "excuse me" to the person I just bumped into I opened my eyes.

I let out a soft little yelp and covered my mouth quickly so I wouldn't have people checking in on us. "What, so know I can't go to the bathroom by myself either?"

I tried bumping past Damon to get to the door, ignoring the fact that he was in the woman's room. I wasn't even surprised, I was only surprised that he hadn't came in earlier to torment me.

I had to stop when he blocked my entry to the door. I managed an eye roll even if I wanted to bash his brains in.

"Get away." I was pissed off with all these games. It was about time I snapped. I was starting to worry that I was giving up on everything. Just letting him win the bet so that we could be done with all this already.

"I wanted to ask you something." He seemed serious enough, but I wasn't buying any of it.

"And you just had to ask me in the bathroom?"

Damon only nodded, excusing any attempt of sarcasm.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and rolled my weight onto one leg. "Fine, then what is it?" Might as well just get it over with.

Damon suddenly smirked and slowly started to walk backwards. I immediately got déjà vu. This was just like in the Stefan's room, when he was cornering me and I had that startled fawn feeling.

My startled eyes met his, but where mine were scared, his where clear and mocking.

Seeing my reaction only broadened his smirk. "Do I make you nervous, Elena." His tone was deeper than normal.

I wanted to jut my chin out and snort "no" in his face, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be very convincing if I did it anyway.

"I don't know what you mean. Why would I be nervous around you?" Oh, I could think of a few reasons alright.

"Don't be defiant. I know how you feel around me."

I shook my head stubbornly. "You could possibly know that."

"Oh, but I do." He reached his hand out and stroked my cheek. It left a searing hot trial even after his hand was long gone. I stifled a shiver.

As if he felt it all, he smiled in response. Great, so know he had the ability to feel everything that I could. Anything else I needed to know?

"And guess what? You like it." His face inches from mine. If I made a fraction of movement then my lips would be touching his.

Before I had to react I suddenly felt a a slight pressure on the very back of my thigh: his hand. I wanted to swat it away but I was to far again, lost in his gaze as I had before.

And just like before, he had me pinned in the corner of the bathroom, the cold surface making me shiver. Or maybe it was Damon. Who knew?

Are chest were almost touching and all we could do was stare at each other. One of us had to move before we got caught in here. Was this was something you do in a bedroom, and not a woman's bathroom. And when Damon leaned in the close the mere distance, I quickly avoided his lips and instead I kissed his cheek. I closed my eyes as I inhaled, the smell of leather invading my senses.

I pulled back slightly and whispered- "we shouldn't be here" into his ear.

And I knew just then that we were in for an awkward drive home.

It was hours after our steamy encounter in the bathroom and I was starting to get extremely put on edge. Why didn't he just talk to me? Anytime we look at each other it's not like we have to go on a talk strike for 5 hours. It was getting ridiculous. Infect I didn't even know where Damon was right know. Probably hiding from me or something. I wasn't going to yell at him if that's what he thought, After all I was the one who allowed him to put his hands all over me, something that I would have to careful about from know on.

From know on… I sighed. Was I supposed to expect these random Damon encounters from know on. I didn't think I could exactly do that. I was taking a risk just being with the guy.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to talk to him before I did anything rash like I wanted to.

I had a pretty good feeling that he would be somewhere in the line of being in his room, so that's where I went.

When I got there, though, he wasn't anywhere in sight. I huffed angrily, but then stopped short when a flash of white paper stood out from his normally clean desk.

Kowing I shouldn't snoop I almost turned around and walked out the door, but then I stopped again, thinking that it couldn't hurt. Little did I know that it was an entry to… Damon's diary? Since when did he carry a journal with him.

But I was passed the point of no return, my eyes almost twitched to read it. It wasn't so much reading it, I wanted to know what was going on inside that head of his. Why was he so bad and then so good all at the same time. Maybe it was just me who saw the good in him, but I was convinced that there was some good somewhere. There had to be. Right?I finally gave in to impulse and looked at the elegant printing on the paper.

_**She drives me crazy. Everyday, every minute, every second I'm with her. I don't get how someone can be so perfect and yet make me madder than hell. The way she acts around me, its as if she knows everything and doesn't want to hear what other people say about her. She act's like me. Is that a good thing? I have no clue, but all I can see is the good she obtains. I want to be with her, make her laugh, and never let her go. I can't. She'll never let me. So I can never tell her how much I adore her.**_

_**-Damon**_

I stared, dumbfounded, at what I held in my hands. So shocked that I dropped it to the ground as if it had electrocuted me.

He couldn't love me, but he did. It wasn't supposed to be this way. I was supposed to be with one brother. _One _brother. Not two. Uno.

I wasn't just going to wrap both of them around my little finger and call it good. Why did all vampires have to like me anyway? I wasn't that great. I was just Elena Gilbert, nothing more, nothing less.

I couldn't be in this room for another second, so I spun around towards to the door, refusing to let the tears spill over, and yanked the door out of my way.

Only to find Damon blocking my way for the second time today. Only he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the piece of paper that had ruined everything just by the words. The piece of paper that was still lying on the floor.

I let the tears spill over this time as I fled from the room, not looking back. Because I knew what I was going to see. A shattered heart and a stunned vampire.


	9. Wanted

Three days.

So far I had spent three days in Stefan's room, doing nothing but sulking and staring blankly at the ceiling. It was the 11th day with Damon and I knew that the whole stupid, worthless bet was forgotten. I only wish that time would go faster so that I could go on with my life. One without Damon. I couldn't convince myself that _that_ was what I actually wanted. My heart said no but my brain said yes. I was literally fighting myself.

Damon had tried talking to me one time. I slammed the door in his face, and after that he just stopped trying.

I wasn't mad at Damon, even if that was what he thought. I was mad at myself for letting things get to far. I was more like Katherine than ever before. I don't care what other people said. I _**was**_like the person that I had tried so hard not to be.

I didn't want him to love me. I wished he never was born, so that I could stop feeling so sorry for myself. I had let things go to far, pretending that I had feelings for him when I was clearly with Stefan.

I wasn't pretending. I felt the sparks when he touched me. I felt my face heat up when he looked at me. I felt my heart beat harder when I ever thought about him.

Was that why my heart was about to fly out of my chest?

I wasn't going to admit that I…loved him, because that was what Katherine would do. And right know I was trying to steer clear of those actions.

I wondered what Damon was doing sometimes. Did he go back to killing people? Was he sulking around? Was he happy that I had left him to some privacy?

All I knew was that I had broken two hearts that night. I want to push pause on everything, hit erase and go back in time. If I was smart I wouldn't have read his most personal feelings. He hadn't done it to me, so why was I selfish enough to do it to him? Because I was selfish.

_**So where does that leave me know? **_I thought. Maybe I should do something about this mess.

I didn't have the guts too. I was too stuck up on vain pride to talk to Damon about feelings.

What was I supposed to say? "I love you, but hey, I'm with you're brother"? That didn't sound right, and I wasn't going to say something that would just make everything worse.

I knew why he stopped trying to get through to me. He thought that I didn't care for him like he cared for me. He probably thought that I was like Katherine too.

But he was wrong. I loved him, I loved him, I loved him, I…

I said the words until I started to cry again, knowing that this was never going to work. It wasn't meant to be this way. I also knew that something had to be done, and yet I was just sitting here like a little baby not doing anything to get the world to start spinning again.

What would my mother say?

The words jolted me up from the bed, tears still streaming down my face. My mother would not be happy. She would tell me to stop beating 'round the damn bush and go fix things before it only got worse. I would only laugh and wave my hand, telling her that she was more melodramatic than ever. But deep down I knew she was right, because all mothers were right. That's the reason they became mothers, to tell people things and have them think otherwise.

Just like Damon was telling me he didn't love anyone, how he hated them all. I know now that that is 100% not true.

Keeping my mothers words close in my mind so I couldn't have the chance to turn around and plant my butt on the bed again, I wiped the tears from my eyes and slid off the bed.

Of course I had gotten out of the bedroom, to get food and use the bathroom, but that was only when he was asleep or out hunting or just plain not around. Considering it was only 6:34 pm I had a feeling that he was as wide awake as ever.

My hand was on the door knob and I hoped to god that Damon wasn't in the house. I needed mental time to prepare myself for this.

The handle made an irritating squeaky sound that sounded loud and harsh in the quiet room. There was no chance of turning back know.

I kept on telling myself that it was just Damon and that he was not going to bite me. Well, that wasn't really the correct usage of words but it all had the same meaning.

I tried and failed to keep soundless as I crept down the stairs, but it seemed as if I were bound to make a loud entrance.

Once I was in the living room I was prepared to make another kind of noise to let him know that I was in the room. It wasn't necessary.

What I saw shocked me. Damon was there all right, but not awake. Asleep. I had never seen him like that before. Peaceful, content. And most importantly- not smirking.

I walked closer to the couch that he was sprawled on and I couldn't help it. I smiled, and that smile quickly turned into a laugh. He must looked so vulnerable, and I did not expect that from any kind of vampire.

His chest fell up and down in the same kind of rhythm that mine did and in one hand he clutched a book. I was once again shocked. I didn't know that he read, or at least glanced at any words he didn't really need to. The other thing that jetted through my mind at the same time was- "God, he's so beautiful." So beautiful that it was completely unfair. No one had a right to be that good looking. I wondered if all vampires were good looking. Stefan, Damon, Anna, Kath-…

I stopped short. I was not gonna mention _**her.**_ I was to bust staring at Damon.

I chewed my lip, thinking that if there were no Stefan then I would be able to stare at Damon without thinking I was a horrible backstabber and two-faced idiot. I could even sleep with him, bet or no bet.

I immediately blushed at the thought of Damon and I doing stuff other then talking to each other…

_**Snap out of it, Elena. Your not supposed to be thinking of sleeping with you're boyfriends brother. **_I sighed, but didn't listen to my conscience.

Instead I thought what it would be like to just give into the bet and give Damon the benefit of doubt just so I didn't have to beat myself over the suspense the bet had put off.

Would I regret it? Would I love it? Would I break it off with Stefan? Would I see Damon in a whole other light? Would I be more like Katherine each passing second I was with him.? I didn't know that answer to any of these questions, but they kept coming anyways.

I just stared at Damon some more, wondering what the hell I was going to do about him and my situation.

Just like Caroline said- "Boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Sex."

But it wasn't that easy. What if he was you're vampire boyfriends vampire brother? That had to count for something. Right? I sighed again, because the truth was that it didn't sound very convincing whether he was a vampire or not.

Damon stirred a little on the couch, shifting his position, but it still made me hold my breath. I was definitely still not ready to talk to him face to face. I could always right him a letter and then run away… that sounded ridiculous.

I started to back away so that he could sleep, but as soon as I was at the stairs my mothers words passed through my brain once again. I could either pass a great opportunity to make things somewhat right or I could go cower in my room like I had for the past three nights. I was at the stairs again thinking that I'd rather cower but I stopped short and took in a big lungful of air. I was going to do this.

Each step I took closer to Damon was heavy, as if the air was pushing me back.

I looked at Damon just as I walked over to the front of the couch and sat down on the very edge so that I was barely touching his thighs. I gulped, hard. Even this much contact with him was too much. How did I expect to sleep with him if this was going to happen?Whoa, when did I ever say I was going to sleep with him? Jeez.

"Damon," I said, "Come on. We need to talk." He still didn't budge so I pushed harder on his chest.

He squirmed a little and his eyes fluttered open. I was faced with a fluttering heart and two bright blue eyes.

He looked at me for a while, as if he couldn't believe that I was actually talking to him. He wasn't making this any easier. Why didn't he say something? Anything? Maybe there wasn't much to say. Without a recognition of anything anymore, I grabbed his hand and said the only thing I could at this moment. "I'm sorry."

He just stared at me harder and then down at our hands. "Why?" His voice was dry and gravely. And at that moment I could see the red around his eyes. He wasn't in that freaky vampire state or anything, he looked as if he had been crying. Was that even possible for Damon?

"Have you been crying?" I asked and then regretting it as soon as it came out.

Damon just shrugged and laid his head back down on the couch, our hands still intertwined.

"I don't hate you if that's what you think." I pointed out softly.

He blinked and didn't say anything for a while. "But you don't love me." It wasn't a question.

What I wanted to scream was- "Yes I do, you idiot! How do you not see it?" But he couldn't read my mind. At least I didn't think he could, unless there was something he wasn't telling me.

"Your making it hard to apologize." I forced a smile.

Damon didn't smile back, but he did pull back his hand out of mine. That made me feel rejected. Here I was trying my best not to rip his head off and he was making me feel like a weirdo.

I sighed and lay down next to him on the couch, it was big enough. "Please don't hate me." It came out in a whisper. The scary part about this was, was that we were sitting remarkably close to each other and I still didn't feel close enough. I was having detachment issues.

"Your making me nervous. You haven't even tried to win the bet in a while.""That's because you've been hiding from me," And them more quietly he added- "What are you doing, Elena?"

I didn't know what he was talking about, but he continued anyway. "You don't love me, so why are you here?"

I want to tell him. I want to tell him so much that its like a physical ache in my chest. I just don't understand why I cant do it. Just say it, sleep with him and then get all of it over with. The only problem was that I didn't want it to be a one night stand, I wanted it to be more.

As I thought all of this over, Damon stared at my face intently, waiting for me to say something.

I wasn't thinking about being like Katherine anymore, and I wasn't thinking about Stefan. I was thinking about Damon, Damon and more Damon. That was when I leaned in.

A silent voice was going off in my head, saying- "I want you…I want you…"

His lips never met mine. I opened my eyes to find that he was completely gone.

That was when I knew that I was completely and utterly not forgiven.

What else was new?


	10. Awkward

We were getting no where as far as I could see. I had stopped trying to hide in Stefan's room, and let myself freely wander through the house. That was all there was to do. He wouldn't talk to me. Hey, I said I was sorry. What else did he want me to do, throw myself at his feet and bow down? It was funny because it was probably true.

Sure, once in a while he would talk to me. Only about stupid things, like if I could pass him his shoes. That wasn't really getting anywhere on conversation. This was only because Damon hated to talk about his feeling as much as the next person did, maybe even more.

Sometimes though, I would catch him looking at me. Not the way a normal everyday person would look at you. He really _looked _at me, as if he would just stalk over and make me his the second I was alone. The only problem was, was that I was always alone. I couldn't do out with friend because Damon was afraid that something would happen to me, and Aunt Jenna thought I was away at some summer camp. Only Jeremy knew what I was really doing, but I didn't really feel like talking to my little brother about girl stuff.

I was thinking about all of this as I started to sit down at the dining room table, trying to avoid eye contact with him until it was absolutely necessary. Today was the day I was going to crack the Damon code, hopefully.

Even though Damon seemed to hate me or something like that, he still made me things to eat. He just fled the room before I could say thank you.

So this time when he set the plate down and attempted to leave the room, I caught his arm before he could go anywhere. I knew that he could just rip my arm out of my socket and be on his way, but my touch made him stop deep in his tracks. He still wouldn't look at me, but this was a start.

"Why aren't you talking to me." I had originally intended to make my voice strong and firm, but it came out as a broken whisper.

He didn't look at me and he sure didn't say anything, so I pulled harder on his arm , wanting him to sit.

"Can't you just sit and talk to me. It's no fun being isolated." This time Damon looked at me for a fifth of a second and at the chair that was placed next to me.

With a big sigh he pulled my hand from his arm and slowly walked over to the chair.

When he was sitting down, so close that our legs were touching once again, I tried to catch to catch his eye, desperate to make some sort of contact. He stared down at his thumbs, just like a little boy who was about to be scolded.

"I said I was sorry, so why aren't you talking? Do you hate me that much?" That seemed to spark some of Damon's attention, because this time he looked at me longer, and not down at his fingers.

"I don't hate you, Elena." As he finished the sentence he looked down again.

I wasn't going to have this, so I put two fingers under his chin and lifted his head up until he was looking at me again. I couldn't mistake the water in his eyes for anything else. I knew he was crying this time. He didn't even flinch when one rolled down his cheek.

"Then why do you act like you do?"

Damon just shook his head, which released a couple more tears. I hated seeing someone so strong break in front of me. It was supposed to be me crying, Not the 169 year old.

"Why are you crying?" I was asking a lot of questions today.

He wiped some of the tears from his face, his eyes still brimmed, and shrugged. Then he said- "Why do you act like you like me?"

This surprised me. He still thought that I was leading him on or something, so this time I was the one who shook my head. He loved me so much that he was crying because he thought I didn't care about him.

"You have never been so wrong in your whole entire life, Damon. If I didn't care about you do you think I would be sitting right here trying to talk to you? Do you think I would even bother?"

"you don't love me." Again, it was not a question.

Great, so we were back to square one. If only he didn't have to make this so hard.

"Don't do this, Damon. Don't make me say it." I whispered to him.

He looked at me harder, some more tears on his cheeks. "Say what?"

I had to say it, and I was going to when something stopped me short. "You love me." I said it in an awed sort of whisper, and then I laughed, which surprised us both.

He loved me! He lost the bet! I could stop worrying about everything!

I threw my arms around a still surprised Damon, just so relived that this weight was off my shoulders.

Damon stiffened in my arms and I pulled back, slightly embarrassed my actions. I was practically bouncing in my seat.

Damon just stared at me as if I were crazy. "What?"

I snickered behind my hand "You lost! You lost the bet."

He looked at me, a little confused, and then realization crossed over his features. He let his shoulders slump and let our a muffled- "shit."

But then I stopped again, and immediately the weight was back on me. He hadn't _said_ it to my face, just in the diary entry. Damon must have been thinking the same thing, because he suddenly looked up and grinned that radiant smile of his.

I groaned and Damon's smirk widened. "Sorry, Elena. Bets still on. Better luck next time."

I cocked an eyebrow "Next time?"

He suddenly leaned in and I concentrated on breathing. He had made a complete 360 degree turn in attitude. He was somewhat back to the cocky man I had turned to actually loved. Weird.

"Wait," I pushed in his chest before he could do anything "I have to tell you something."

I jumped off the chair and Damon watched me pace. "Go ahead. I'm all ears."

"I can't really tell you though. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do."

Damon laughed and wiped the rest of the tears from his face. "Sure it is, you just open you're mouth and-"

"Not like that, Damon. You know what I mean."

He shrugged. "It's fine. Just spit it out."

I shook my head. "I don't really mind telling you, considering how you feel. I'm just more afraid of what we might do after I tell you. I was talking about sex of course.

Now Damon was really confused. "What are you talking about?"

I sat back down on the chair and looked him straight in the eye. "I…love…"

He knew what I was going to say "you" next, maybe that was why he captured me in the most electrifying kiss of my life. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. The shock of it had me reeling and I didn't want it to ever stop. I knew this was going to happen though. I knew that as soon as I said the words he would kiss me, and we would probably end up doing…other things. Inappropriate things that should not really be done between the two of us.

But when he pulled back from what seemed like hours of making out, it surprised me , and made me a little disappointed.

"…You…" I finished in a more than breathless tone.

He kissed me again, his lips making me want to faint in his arms. His hand stroking my cheek, my neck, his other hand gripping me tightly on my hip. I wanted him more than anything, but when I tried to scoot closer to him, preferably on his lap, I almost fell of the chair, breaking the contact with our lips.

He laughed as he quickly pulled me up by the arm so I wouldn't fall all the way to the floor and make a complete moron of myself.

Once I was completely secure and back on the chair, Damon said- "Maybe we should be careful."

The words sent a thrill through me as he moved his lips to my cheek, creating a trial that moved down to my neck. I wanted to say something, but to my great horror it came out as a breathy moan. I felt Damon smile as he continued kissing my skin. I started to wonder how far this would go, when suddenly he stopped and turned his head away. Before he did though, I caught a single flash of something white coming from his mouth. A fang?

"Maybe we should stop." I was still breathing hard, and as much as I wanted to continue our little make out session I knew that if I pushed him too far then I would end up with two little holes in the side of my neck in the morning. Why didn't that sound bad to me?

"Sorry," He grumbled, "That wasn't supposed to happen."

I laughed. "Don't care…" I kissed him again, hands gripping his jacket collar. I let a sigh escape my lips as his tongue slid into my mouth. I was entirely convinced that this was what heaven felt like.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

I knew what I did was entirely and completely wrong, and some part of me felt guilty about it, and the other part of me was saying- "The hell with feelings."

I didn't exactly know where this left us. The way I had acted in the kitchen was not really me. That was the laid back I-don't-give-a-crap-what-I-do Elena, and something told me that Damon was the one who brought out that side of me. Ever since Georgia It just felt it so much easier to lose control with him. I still had to be careful, otherwise I was going to get myself I a lot of trouble. Losing control was fun, until someone got burned.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

I was laying on the couch, hair, legs and arms all sprawled out, completely bored out of my mind. Damon had once again gone hunting and left me here…all alone. It was still weird knowing that Stefan and Damon were not even human. Weird to think that they both didn't have to breath, didn't have to eat real food, didn't have to hurt if they didn't want too. All the things I _had _to do- they didn't.

It didn't freak me out though. Actually it was kind of thrilling knowing something this secret, something that nobody else could know. Well, besides Bonnie, Jeremy, Alaric, and my. Wow, that was like half the town right there.

One word slipped, and then the whole entire thing would be blown out. We would either have to move or Damon would have to go and use compulsion on everyone…or kill them all. I knew he wouldn't do that, he had promised that he would kill nothing besides animals. So far he had kept his word true, as far as I knew.

It would be cool to see him hunt something. Incredibly scary but curiosity usually got the best of me. That's how I ended up with Stefan, curiosity. He was like nothing I had ever seen before. Sleek, foreign, dark, sexy. Everything I had ever wanted. Until Damon Salvatore came alone. He was just the person to come alone and make me go crazy. I knew I couldn't have him, and I hated him. Hated him with something fierce. The longer I thought of him the longer I started to realize something. Something that I now realized as attraction. Red hot, fiery attraction. It had just taken me a long time to figure it all out.

I still wasn't even sure about him. He could break my heart and not even know it. He was wild, untamed, fierce, and I knew that I couldn't tame something like that. All his flaws he somehow made up for.

As far as I was concerned he was perfect.

I couldn't contain myself anymore. I bounded off the couch and made my way up the stairs. It was one of those nicer days where it got way to hot in the house, the kind of heat that left you in a clammy sweat. That was why I was going up to take a long, long cold bath. Nothing like that to smooth out the nerves. Mine were already frayed and worn out, hopefully they wouldn't snap under all the pressure I was under.

I walked into Stefan's room, which was now considered mine, and swung open the door to the bathroom. But before I even thought of taking off my clothes I made sure there was actually a towel and clothes to change into when I got out. I was not having Damon come back and stealing my clothes again. That part of Damon was not the most lovable, but if you were stupid enough to be like me then you would want Damon, all of his big, bad intentions and all.

Once I had everything I needed, I drew back the curtain and slipped off my clothes, which consisted of a light tank top and shorts. It was way to hot to wear jeans. I was jelous of Damon and that. He could wear the darkest clothes he wanted in the hottest days known to man-kind and he wouldn't even break a sweat. If you ask me, that was way to cool.

I turned on the water and got it to the coldest it could possibly go and slipped in. The water was enough to give me hypothermia, but I didn't budge because I knew as soon as I got out I would be having heat stroke. From one extreme to the next. Just like I went from Stefan to Damon. Talk about extremes.

I pushed all the thoughts of the two brothers out of my head because I was in danger of exploding. Instead I just concentrated on the water lapping around my hair. Not Damon. Just the water.

I was finally relaxed by the water and actually started to drift, when a sound made my eyes shoot open.

"Hey, Elena…"

I was looking at the door that I had mistakenly left wide open and a more than stunned vampire.

I didn't even react at first.


	11. Sorry

At first all I could do was stare at Damon with huge eyes, and then my senses returned to me and I yelled- "What the hell! GET OUT!"

That caught Damon's attention and before I could say anything he was gone. I slumped down into the water and let out a groan that was muffled by the arm that I had thrown across my face. I guess that all my precautions were for nothing. How did I forget to shut the bathroom door exactly? Was I so immobile that I forgot how to do daily things? I turned my gaze to the door and glared at it. Of course it wasn't the doors fault, but I was in denial.

I sighed again, and knowing that my peaceful and brief bath was ruined, I stepped out and wrapped one of the new towels I had bought around me. Was this how Damon repaid me? For all I know he probably planned the whole damn thing. You don't just walk into people's bathroom, even if the door was open. Okay, maybe this wasn't anyone's fault except for my own. He couldn't possibly have know that was in the shower. I hoped.

I wiped myself down fiercely, probably bruising myself in the act, and grumpily plopped my clothes on. Great, know I was going to be pissed for the rest of the night.

I slammed Stefan's door behind me and stormed down the stairs. I was just going to give him the silent treatment, grab an apple and go to bed. Then I was going to deal with Damon tomorrow, no matter what it took.

As if I finally realized what had just happened a couple of minutes ago, I blushed. It heated my whole entire face and only made it hotter in the room.

People like Damon knew how to keep cool in a crises, because when I got down the stairs he was sprawled out on the couch that I had just been laying on. That damned book was in his hands.

A glaring caught my eye and I almost screamed in disbelief. The fireplace in front of the black couch was ablaze. It had to be at least 90 degrees outside, so why was the fire going!

Walking into me in the bath was one thing, but having the fireplace going when it was about a billion degrees Fahrenheit outside was another. He may not be effected by the heat but I sure as hell was.

Without caring if he heard me or not I stomped over to the refrigerator, opened it up, and grabbed the nearest gallon of water. I then made my way over to the blazing fire and poured all the contents of the water out and onto it. I watched as it died down and completely went out in a sizzling kind of sound.

I looked back at Damon, threw the empty jug at him, and said in my most menacing voice- "Keep it our or you're going to have some problems." The apple was now forgotten as I once again made my way up the stairs. It was going to be one long, hot night.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

It was 2 am. I was way too hot. I was still pissed off. It was so hot I started to wonder if Damon had started that damn fire again. I just needed to face the fact that I could toss and turn in my bed all I wanted but the heat wasn't going to evade me.

That was what I told myself when I decided to go downstairs for probably the 100th time that night. I could convince myself that the reason I kept going down there was to keep guzzling down glasses of water, but if it was one thing about me then I couldn't do that so well. Bet Damon had no problem.

Even with all the windows open it was still way too hot and stuffy. I don't think it had even been so hot in Mystic Falls. Usually in summer it only got in the high 70's.

"What are you doing?"

Is spun around and when I did I ran smack into Damon. Speak of the devil. Then I realized that I was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, blocking the way.

"None of your business." I muttered and walked towards the kitchen.

"You do realize that it's the middle of the night and your not in bed right? Are you sleep walking or something."

"Why would you care? You're up too and you don't see me throwing a hissy fit."

Damon put up his hands in mock surrender and passed me on the way to the fridge. "So why are you up anyway?"

"Could ask you the same question."

"Touché."

I rolled my eyes. We were getting no where in the conversation. "It's too hot.""Yeah, sucks for you. No…pun intended." I could practically taste the smirk on his face.

"Is that all? Did you just come down here to bug me or do you have a better purpose."

"Is there usually a purpose? "

"Nope. Just thought that maybe you'd change you're mind." I took a swig of water and placed the cup in the sink and then turned back to Damon. "So what was with you're little grand entrance today? If you didn't know, I was kinda in the shower."

"Yeah, I know that now. I had to tell you something important though."

I waved my hand telling him to continue.

Damon pulled out a phone from his pocket and outstretched it towards me. I took it hesitantly and flipped it open.

_Need to talk to Elena._

_-_ _Stefan_

"This was so important that you had to walk in on me? I think this could have waited.""Just do it, Elena. It may be important."

I tried to force the phone back in his hand but he refused to take it. "Why do you care? You're the one who spent the last 165 years of you're life torturing him." I swore I saw Damon wince a little, but when I looked back he wore a composed mask.

"No need to be snarky. If I were you I would just call him."

I flipped open the cell phone again and stared at the text. Wasn't he supposed to be out slaying vampires? Why would he need to talk to me?

I just tried to evade all negative possibilities, like Stefan saying that Katherine had escaped and was coming to kill me or that he wanted to break up or something of that nature. I shivered, they both sounded pretty bad.

Now, I just clicked the number 2 on Damon's phone, knowing that it was his speed dial for Stefan, and then -even more forcefully than before- I tried to shoo Damon away with a gesture from my hand.

He cocked an eyebrow and looked at me for a second. Then he just shrugged and gracefully maneuvered from the room. He could probably here me all the way from California, but I didn't need his blue eyes piercing me at the moment. I already got enough of that practically 24/7.

The phone had already rang 3 times, and when I was just about to hang up, thinking that this whole demur was a waste of time, a voice came muffled from the other side.

"Stefan?" For a moment I thought I had pushed the wrong number, but then this came:

"Elena? Elena, is that you?" I could barely understand his inaudible words, and I strained to actually here them.

A series of harsh noises where coming from the background of the phone, and I absently wondered if he was taking a break from vampires and was wrestling a pair of bulls.

"Listen, Elena. I have to tell you this quick. I'm in a sort of-" WACK! The sound came harsh and loud from the other end, and despite my best efforts, I flinched. "…Sticky situation." He finished, and by now he was puffing out air for what seemed to be his life.

It scared me. Whether they were bulls or vampires he could get hurt so easily. Or possible even die-. I stooped that horrible thought because I was in danger of crying. Would I ever see him again? Would this be my last conversation? God, if I ever crossed paths with Katherine I would kill her. Even if I was a mere human, who's only fierce instincts where to bash a guy in the groin. There was one problem with that. Katherine wasn't a guy.

"What is it? Tell me quick!" My voice was ranging past desperation.

More heavy breathing, and then he spoke. "Tell Damon I need to stay in Italy for a couple more weeks than I planned."

"What," I shrieked, then made check to lower my voice down an octave. "Why?"

"I'm sorry," He panted, and then by the noise at the end, which seemed like metal grinding against a chalkboard, I guessed that he threw something against something sharp. Or someone. "Katherine is on the run and I'm afraid I wont make it back in time."

I wanted to scream and throw the phone in the decomposer in the sink. The only reason I had been getting along with Damon was because I knew that Stefan would be coming back in only 9 short days. Now I didn't know what I was going to do.

"I'm so sorry, Elena. I need to go. Apologize to Damon for me. And Elena?"

"What?" Some of the tears squeezed past all my defenses and ran untouched down my burning cheeks.

"I love you-"

Before I had time to reply, and tell them I missed him more then anything, the phone suddenly cut off. I stared at it dumbly, as if I couldn't believe the phone had the nerve to do such a thing, and then, with all the power I could muster through my suddenly very tired body, I threw the phone against a wall and watched as it broke into tiny, little pieces. At first I didn't know what to do with the phone that I had just destroyed. It was Damon's after all, and by the looks of it, the phone was very expensive. I was sure he would be mad. After all, how many times had Damon thrown a phone against a wall out of pure rage? Literally thousands of times.

"No need to break the merchandise," But then he must have seen the look of udder and complete failure on my face, because he suddenly stopped short and added more seriously this time- "What's wrong? What happened?"

All I could do was shack my head and watch as Damon walked slowly over to me and place his hands on both of his hands on my shoulders. "Come on, Elena. Do I have to be Dr Phil right now?"

I didn't smile at this joke, I was past this. " He cant come back." I wiped uselessly at a small, dangling tear that still held on my cheek.

Damon smiled at me as if I were a stupid child, who had forgotten what tow plus two was.

"I know. Doesn't he still have like 9 days left?"

I shook my head again, more hopelessly this time, and mustered enough strength to get through this conversation without passing out-something that I did not need right now. "No, you don't get it. Katherine has him running in circles. He doesn't know when he will be back." I said miserably, and Damon growled at the mention of Katherine. We had been careful not to say anything about _her_, since we both knew that it was a touchy subject that had better be left alone. "How did you not hear the conversation anyway? I thought you lived for eavesdropping."

Damon shrugged and acted like this was embarrassing to admit. "You asked me not to listen, so I didn't."

I ignored his unexpected attempt to do something nice for me and stared at him hard. "What are we going to do, Damon?"

"I don't know. Live it up until he comes back."

I pushed hard on his chest, which sent his hands off my shoulders. "How could you say that? He could be dying right now, and your just making jokes as if it's nothing!" How could someone be so glib in a situation like this? I wondered if the word "dieing" got his attention at all, but if it did he sure didn't show anything of it.

"Elena, he's going to be fine." His voice was softer, less mocking, but I still took a step back when he tried to touch me again.

Hopefully realizing that he had gone to far, his hands dropped uselessly to his sides and rubbed his forehead. He probably also realized that this was a hopeless cause that he would not win over. I was too stubborn for that, and he knew that better than anyone else did.

"Why don't we just go to bed then? Talk about it in the morning."

"No," I took another step back. "I'm not tired." This was obviously not true, but what I really wanted to do right now was go sit down and cry about Stefan, and how I had been making out with Damon while he was out there working his butt off. All to save me I might add.

The other truth was that there was nothing to else to talk about in the morning. I was a horrible girlfriend, and I had a more than willing-to-die-for me -vampire who was coming back when god knows when, case closed. All there was to do now was sulk in a corner and read a book.

So that was how Damon left me that night. He looked at me one more time, as if I was making a big and stupid decision, which I later realized as pity, and then he left me, in the dim light, with nothing to do but stare blankly at his back as he left. I now noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. I would have noticed this earlier but I promised myself then and there that I would never betray Stefan anymore. He deserved that much, and when he come home- if he ever came home, I would be waiting here with open arms.

The air was still hot and stuffy. Why was I so cold?

Because I'm a horrible person, I thought. Because I don't know right from wrong in tough situations. How could two brothers cause so much death, pain, broken hearts and lust? My thought continued as I sat down firmly on one of the armchairs that was adamantly placed next to the larger black, leather couch. Maybe it was because the two brothers weren't supposed to even exist. Well, in this lifetime anyway. This was something you read about in books, not something you should be hearing about in the everyday news. Everyday was a battle, and no matter how hard you tried to keep the people you loved safe, someone always ended up hurt, or even dead.

_This is why Bonnie hates you, Elena. _A small voice rang through my head, mocking me and also managing to sound sorry for me at the same time. _The Salvatore's killed what was the most important to her. Happy now?_

No, no, no. I was not happy. I had never been comfortable with any of this. I was so desperate sometimes that I just wished everything relating in anything supernatural would just go away.

Bonnie wouldn't hate me, Jeremy could be with Vickie, I would just be the normal girl at school… I would be heartbroken.

I had to remind myself though, as I traced the creases in the chair, that if I didn't have Stefan I would continue going through life as if I hadn't found something important enough yet; a piece of my soul.

If I didn't have Damon I would continue going through life without that spark of fire that I guess I had desperately been trying to look for, Someone who lighted my fire just because what he said made me constantly crazy; a piece of my heart.

They were so complexly different that you couldn't help but compare, but in the end they all held the same purpose to me. If either one of them died I could not live. I could practically see it now:

_And tonight we are here to report the death of a young girl. A girl whom was loved my most and looked up too. Elena Gilbert died this morning at 8:15, where her neighbors come over, only to find the young Elena reportedly passed out of the floor. They both tried to revive her and called the police right away, but It was too late. She could not be saved. She will be missed greatly and cherished in the memories she gave so many people. Her cause of death still remains unidentified. And next on the weather…_

It was unidentified because people couldn't see a broken heart as a cause of death. Heck, you couldn't even see a broken heart until it was to late to do anything.

This was when I realized, Damon and Stefan were the reason I was holding on, when I knew I could have let go a long time ago.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

_A/N: HI GUYS! I want to thank you guys so much for all the reviews. I swear to god that I live off those things._

_Why don't you guys give me some idea's! Doesn't matter if their old, new, stupid or even boring, because you might just see it in the next chapter! _

_Thanks again! By the way. Hopefully the next chapter will be up tomorrow (I finished this chapter at 11:34 pm!) But I am pretty busy, so it might have to wait. I promise it will be up soon though!_

_Psstt. See that review button down there? It has enough power to make me a very happy girl!_


	12. Cemetery

"Where are you going?" I watched intently as Damon pushed his arms through his jacket and picked up his car keys.

He didn't look at me as he answered. "Business trip."

I stared at him for a second, sure that I had hear him wrong. "What kind of business trip?" I couldn't imagine him actually doing something for someone other than himself.

"The business type."

I picked myself off the couch, which was where I spent most of my time thinking. Thinking about Stefan and Damon, and how I was in deep shit, and all the things that have gone wrong in such a short amount of time. "Can I go?" I was unbelievably tired of sitting around being a damsel in distress. I needed to get out there and actually pretend that everything was going to be okay.

But Damon's answer was just as simple as his facial expression, except that it still looked good on him. "No."

I was surprised at this. Usually he wanted to take me places. Especially since I told him I had feelings for him. Don't even get me started on those kind of things.

"Why not?" I was trying to push his buttons, and believe me when I say that he had a lot of buttons to push.

"Because I said no."

"That's not an answer."

Damon looked at me like he was playing a very stupid game with a little girl. Bored and anxious to get away.

"Why do you care where I go?" He said, looking at me intently.

"Why do you care if I go or not?"

"Because you wont like where I'm going."

"How do you know?"

"Because I do."

"How? I don't think you do." I had to bite my lip because I was in danger of laughing my head off. "Come on, I'm bored out of my mind. I want to go. If you let me I promise I won't talk.

Damon muttered something that sounded like "Yeah, like that's possible" But I ignored it because I wanted to get out of this house so bad. I knew it by nook and cranny. I could even tell you how many windows were in the place. Possibly how many tiles on the floor there were too. I wouldn't tell Damon that though. He probably already thought I was crazy enough.

Damon was now twirling the keys around his fingers and I broke out in a grin

"I'll go get my jacket."

My agenda for today? Go on a business trip with a not so sane vampire.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVD

Damon was right. I could keep my mouth shut for one minute. As soon as we got in the car I was bouncing in my seat like I was a couple of days ago. I wanted to know where we were going. It was not everyday I got to go somewhere with someone like Damon. That was probably a good thing considering next time I would probably turn up dead.

"Can you tell me where we're going now?"

Damon didn't turn me but I could taste the menace in his voice. "Elena, if you don't shut up I'm going to dump this car in the river with you in it."

I shut up, but not because the threat scared me, I shut up because if I didn't he would turn around and lock me inside the house again. I was staring to feel like a captive with Damon. A captive and a thief.

So, instead of talking I looked at the scenery. A beautiful opaque sky was framing the world, with a big circle of orange in the middle of it. The long grasses on the sides of the road were lush and swaying with the light breeze coursing in the air, and there was a couple of shallow pieces of water just beyond the grasses. The scenery wasn't what made me uneasy. What made me uneasy was the fact that this was the road to the…

"Damon, why are we going to the cemetery." I hope he didn't notice the disappointment in my tone. Well, what did I expect? Disneyland?

"Well, _I _want going too. But since you came along I need to show you something."

What could he possibly show me in a grave yard, besides headstones that is? And now that we were getting closer to those headstones my uneasiness only increased. I hadn't visited my parent in a really long time, if they knew then they wouldn't be to happy. Maybe they did know. Then why didn't they stop me from sucking tongue with Damon? They could at least have hit me on the head with a pan or something.

"Your not going to make me dig up a body or something are you?" Damon laughed, which was good. I was being serious though. What other reason would he bring me to the cemetery then?

"No," He said after he composed myself "I just want to show you something kinda cool. Actually it depends on what kind of humor you have to think it's cool."

I shook my head. "So your saying that if you have Damon humor then it will be cool."

Damon shrugged and snickered again. I was still being serious. "Yeah, you could say that."I shook my head again, pretending I understood all of this. The truth was I didn't. I should have just stayed at the boarding house and suffered by myself. I had done it before.

Over a small hilltop I could catch glimpses of the sign to the grave sight. _Welcome to Mystic Fall's Cemetery. _Yeah, sorry to burst the guys bubble who spent so much time painting that, but last time I checked I didn't feel to welcome here. I used to feel welcome all the time, but since vampires could be waiting for me anywhere I tried to stay as far away as possible. Not really a funny place to be killed and then eaten from if you ask me.

"Ready?" I looked at Damon and then out the windshield. The gate to the cemetery was closed.

"You do know that the gates locked right?"

Damon flashed a blinding smile towards me, and I resisted the urge to cover up my eyes with my hand. "Never stopped me before."

I gaped at him. "You've broken in here before?"

"I think I have the right too. I _was_ here personally when this whole thing was built."

I should have been impressed but instead I shivered. I wouldn't wanna watch something like that going on. "Okay." I said uncertainly, not really getting how we were going to get over the gate without killing myself. Damon probably had something up his sleeve.

I opened the door and was faced with the sweet smell of flowers, and not the stench of human rotting flesh. When I was little I always used to think that they used really strong air freshener around these kind of places. I must not have noticed the bunches and bunches of flower circling the cemetery.

I followed Damon over to the very locked fence and looked at him, hands crossed over my chest. "How are you going to get me over exactly?"

Damon flashed one of those beatific smirks and I wondered how girls he had gotten to sleep with him just from that one look. Probably a lot.

He held out his hands out from his body and looked at me. "Come on. Up an' Adam."

I glared at him in disbelief. If he thought that I was going to jump in his arms then he was sadly mistaken.

But as soon as I turned around to run back to the car and demand for him to take me back, he grabbed my by the waist and hoisted me up in his arms. I didn't struggle, I just laid limp there, not really having the energy to tell him to put me the hell down.

"See, how easy that was?"

"Whatever. Can you hurry up before I kill you."

"I don't know. I kinda like this position." I guess to prove his point or something, he stroked the inside of my thigh, dangerously close to the place I definitely did not want him to be at.

Damon pulled back slightly as I squirmed in his arms and slapped his hands away with a very disapproving glance.

"Fine. We should at least get there before it gets dark."

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

"Hello, Stefan."

I didn't want to turn around because I knew what I would find. I would find the exact replica of Elena. The same but also so completely different.

_Her_ voice was strong and bubbly, like a well grown child who knew exactly what she was going was bad. I really didn't have to turn around because I knew her from limb to limb. I had spent most of my human years obsessing over her. And look where that got me. But I knew I had to turn around and do something about this mess, because if I didn't, Elena may never live through this.

I kept Elena in my head when I finally went to face Katherine. How she walked, how she talked, how she loved me.

"You know, Stefan," Katherine began right away. Not beating around the bush. "you weren't supposed to fall in love with _the _girl."

Katherine was lounging on a tall and majestic chair, which was strange because this house was big and horribly dirty. In every lurking corner there was a vampire waiting to kill me. To stake me on the spot. Because Katherine didn't love me. What she wanted was for me to die. I had almost lost arms and legs trying to get to this room just so I could kill her and go home to Elena. The task proved not easy.

"Infect, you were supposed to hate her because she reminded you of me." She said this casually as she checked her nails. I hoped they were dirty, just like her. "Damon was supposed to eat her. And instead look what happened! He fell in love with her!" Katherine voice grew stronger.

"Why do you care? You didn't even love us." I said through a clenched jaw. "We died to save you, and you never came back for us."

Katherine face turned into a snarky smirk as she crossed her legs over the other. "I wanted you to feel what it was like the really care about something, and how when they were gone you would do anything to get them back."

My temper and self control completely snapped. "WE DID LOVE YOU! You didn't even bother with us."

She waved a hand, like this wasn't a big deal at all.

"What do you want with us? Why are you here?" The stake in my hand was in danger of snapping, and that was the last thing that I needed.

"Simple. I am going to kill every last human being in Mystic Falls. Starting with Elena. Then you and Damon will know what it really feels like to lost someone." She stood up from her chair and made her way over to me. Slow and sultry.

"You can't kill me," she whispered into my ear, and I was seconds away from plunging the stake in her chest and be done with her. "Because I'm just getting started."

"And how do you expect to get to Mystic Falls when I kill you?" I said the words loud and she took a step back from, smiling. That was when she swung her arm out.

I was thankful for the blackness than overcame me, because I knew as soon as I woke up I would fail once again.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

"Wow," I stared at the two tombstones. One was a light grey and one was a darker grey, as if a rock had just had water poured over it. "You were right. You do have to have Damon humor to think this is funny." Infect it kinda disgusted me.

The tombstone itself weren't that menacing. It was the words that were on the stones that had me freaked out.

The light grey one had the words _Stefan Salvatore _placed right in the middle, along with the date of birth and then death. There was also a series of Italian words under his name that I did not understand. Damon's was the same except the color of his grave stone was a different color.

I squinted my eyes at the Italian. "What does that say anyway?"

"_Coraggioso e orgogliosi. Lei sarà sempre nei nostri curio _means Brave and proud. You will always be in our hearts. And _Forte voluta e ardente. Lei sarà mancato _means strong willed and fiery. You will be missed."

I smiled. It was obvious that the strong willed and fiery part was on Damon's tombstone. And I also hated to admit that Italian coming from Damon's lips was probably the sexiest thing I had ever heard.

"So, are you really Italian?" My eyes never once pried off the graves. Neither did Damon's. "Yeah. You know that we moved from Italy."

I shrugged. "I know. I think Being Italian is pretty damn cool if you ask me."

Damon looked over at me like I had gone crazy. "it's not that cool, Elena."

I pouted. _I _it was cool. Know I knew why Stefan and Damon were so good looking. Weren't all Italian boys supposed to be hot. Well, it was something like that.

" _Mi sono venuti per mostrare qualcos'altro_."

I looked over at Damon with somewhat of a disappointed look on my face. "Are you gonna do that from now on or something?"Damon smiled and grabbed my hand "_sì."_

At least I was smart enough to knew that that meant "yes".

Without knowing where we were going, I let Damon drag me through the cemetery. I watched my step so I wouldn't step on any of the flowers that were gracefully placed next to certain tombstones. We suddenly stopped short and I almost rammed into the back of Damon. He let go of my hand and I looked down.

It read: _Darlene Salvatore_. I looked at Damon. He was wearing the most heartbreaking expression I had ever seen in my life. "Was this you're mother?" I asked in a sort of awed whisper.

Damon shook his head and looked over to me. "She died after Stefan was born." He then bit his lip. I don't think he was trying to hold back tears, I think he was done crying for a couple more years. It looked like her was thinking about something.

"What was she like?" I asked after a while.

He smiled. "She was beautiful, but I don't think that my father really recognized that until it was too late. He didn't really appreciate her that much. She was an overall kind person. She was the only one I could count on when I was little. My father wouldn't help me with anything, he said I needed to man up. It was kinda funny considering I was only like 5 years old. I just guess I never forgave Stefan for being born. If he wasn't, then she would have been there for a lot of things that she couldn't make,"

For a second I thought he was done talking about her, but then he continued. " I don't think she would have liked Katherine that much." He seemed to frown a little at this.

"Why? I thought that everybody liked Katherine."

Damon snorted. "Yeah right. Some people couldn't stand Katherine."

"Oh." I was clearly surprised. Here I thought that everybody worshipped the ground that she walked on.

"My mother would have liked someone like you. Elena."

I glanced at him but he wasn't looking at me at all. "But why? There is nothing that special about me."Damon chuckled and shook his head slowly. "She would have liked how free spirited and mature you are. Katherine was too much of a kid in her head. I bet that you would get along with her if she were still alive."

I smiled at this. "I probably would have." I said it dreamily, imaging myself in a beautiful ball gown, sipping tea and eating cookie and gossiping with Damon's beautiful mother. It was something out of a fairytale.

I mumped Damon's shoulder with mine. "My mom would have adored you too. She would always joke that she wished my dad was a bad ass. She like men like you, Damon."

Damon crossed his arms over his chest. "It's good to know someone would." He said it glumly.

"Hey, I like you. You don't see me running in the other direction do you?"

Damon sighed. "That's only because your scared of what I'll do if you run."

Rolling my eyes a little I fully turned over to him. "I'm not scared of you, Damon. Sure, at first you scared the hell out of me but once I got to know you didn't really scare me anymore. I figured that you wouldn't hurt me, so I just tried to push your buttons to see if you would."

"See that's what I'm talking about. My mother liked that in people. People taking risks and never looking back to see if they made the right decision or not. It's something more people should do."

"Huh." I chewed my lip as I thought this over. Then I turned back to the grave and gestured to it with my hand. "What does that say?" I was referring to the Italian lettering.

"It means: _Beautiful lady, why did you go?"_

I frowned. "That's depressing." No duh, Elena! I thought. And when he didn't look at me or smile I was afraid I had hurt his feeling. Did he have feelings?

"Why do you act like you hate everybody?" I said after a long moment.

For the longest time in the universe Damon didn't move or do anything. Then after about 5 minutes I didn't expect for him to say anything, so I just dropped the subject.

In the silence that was haunting we both just stared at the grave. Both thinking about the parents we had both lost and loved immensely. And forcing myself to forgot about Stefan for one second, I grabbed Damon's hand and intertwined our fingers. It felt good; his hand was warm, even if he was undead.

"Do you think we should go?" I lightly tugged on his hand.

Damon took a big breath and let me lead his through the commentary and to the gate. We got over the fence the same way we had came through. He picked my up bridle style and I closed my eyes hard. I didn't necessarily want to know what he was going. As soon as I heard the soft thud of his feet on the soft grass, I allowed myself to open my eyes.

Only we weren't next to his car. There was no gate, no cemetery. I couldn't even see the sky from where we where standing. Instead we were completely covered by long, beautiful pine tree's. We were in a forest. But why?

The only thing I really knew was that this was the kind of forest people had complete privacy. Like as in a boy and a girl privacy.

"Damon," I said uncertainly "Why are we here?"

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE:

Hey guys. I just want to let you guts know that on August 20th I am going on another vacation for a whole week; as in the full seven days. I will try to put as many chapters up as possible but I cant post chapter during the vacation I'm taking. I swear as soon as I get home though, I will post the next chapter!

Also, a shout out to _lizlizard12 _for the advice. I hope I did okay!

Next chapter will be up soon!


	13. Snow White

"Don't worry. I have just have to show you one more thing before we go." Damon had now appeared before me and was gesturing for me to come along with him. How did I know he wouldn't try anything with me? This place was…kinda sexy in a really weird old fashion way. It made me feel uneasy and a little light headed. And boy was it gorgeous. The tree's created a sort of fluttery canopy and the shadows put off pretty designs on the forest floor. At the base of some of the tree's were some tiny purple flowers; I could smell them from here. This was the type of place you imagined Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs to live. Maybe they did, I didn't have the time to look though, for Damon was racing ahead of me and I could barley keep up with my clumsy human feet.

Every single one of Damon's movement was like gliding. It had probably made a ballerina or two very unhappy. It made me jealous. How could someone have the looks and the moves? I wasn't talking about dancing. I just had to remind myself that the vampire in him was made him this way, because if he were human he would not be like this. Sure, he would have looked the same, but he would have moved like any other guy did. He wouldn't hate Stefan and he wouldn't be bitter. He also would be dead. Not like the vampire kind of dead, but the real kind of dead. The kind of dead that you didn't wake up from; you were stuck in the ground. I had a feeling that Damon would want it that way, but I could have been wrong. He was probably too stuck up on selfish pride to want to be really and truthfully dead. So for now he was just Damon. Half in the light and half hidden in the dark.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

I was dreaming that I was with Elena. I wasn't going to open my eyes because when I did I would be back to square one. And _that_ was not a good place to be right, considering my situation that I was in right now. I hated to admit it but Damon was the one who should have gone. He was strong, I was not. I could be with Elena, he shouldn't be. I knew how uncomfortable Damon made her, and I couldn't help but feel jealous on how Elena was actually starting to feel safe with their friendship. At first I thought that Damon was smart enough to know that history could not repeat itself- know I was not so sure he was playing by those rules anymore. That was one of those things about Damon, not only did he keep his word on everything, he also didn't play by rules. That was because no one really taught him that, or maybe it was just because he was too stubborn to realize anything.

Right now, though, he was much smarter than anyone. He was not the one being held hostage by Katherine. He was down where it was safe, budding it up with _my _girlfriend.

The thought made my eyes snap open. I was starting to sound like a selfish idiot. Keeping Elena guarded for her own safety was one thing, but putting off the protective crap was another entirely. I was in a new room. It reminded me of a jail cell. No windows, just the dirty floor that I was laying on. There were no bars either. Just me and a small wooden chair in the middle of the room.

Just a small wooden chair and the girl who was occupying it. She was immensely tiny with long brown hair. She wore a terrified expression; wide blue eyes with tears shaking from them. Her mouth was gagged and hands were tied to the chair.

Blood dripped from her neck.

This was what I was afraid was going to happen. I would destroy everything I had ever worked up too, and this little girl would be to blame. I had to tear my lingering gaze from her neck, knowing that it would only frighten her farther, but the flash of white that came from the corner of my eyes made me stare back at her.

There was what appeared to be a white napkin at the feet of the girl. A napkin so white I could read the blood red writing all the way from the other side of the room, even though it was pitch black in here.

The kind of penmanship I had burned in my brain, from years of love letters and diary entries. Katherine's writing.

It read: _Want a bite? I did._

That was when the iron door, that even I couldn't break threw, swung open. The tiny girl in front of me screamed.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

If I had never seen the movie, then I would have guessed that this was actually Snow White's cute, little cottage in the middle of a forest just like this one. But _this _little house was much older and much grander than anything I had ever seen before. It was of course very small and the purest white I had ever seen before, it almost blinded me. The petite shingles to the roof where a shiny and worn out golden color, the flower boxes attached to the front of the house where just as perfect as everything around it was. Even the bushes half covering the house seemed to be glowing with amazement.

I was more astounded than I had ever been in my whole entire life. This was where I wanted to live when I got my own place. "What is this place?" I said in my most awed sort of whisper. "This is completely unreal." I moved over to Damon who was looking at the house with a mixture of happiness and sadness.

"_This _is a place I have not visited in a very, very long time." He walked closer to the door perched in front of the house. The size of it seemed to fit him perfectly. He wasn't that tall so I figured that anyone else would have to duck trying to get in.

"Do you mean that this is yours?" I could not actually believe this was happening.

His answer was reluctant. "Not…just mine. Well, I guess it's all mine now."

A tiny voice in my head was saying not to pry to much on the situation. It was clear by his expression that this wonderful little house was also Katherine's.

"We used to go here a lot. Me and Katherine."

Despite my great efforts, I blushed. It was also clear what they were doing most of their time in this cottage. It was not a place you just hung out in if that's what people where going to think. This was the kind of place you spent time dreamily looking into your lovers eye, just like all the fairy tales ended.

"You really loved her, didn't you." I whispered it more to myself than I did to him. It wasn't a question but Damon gave off a small nod. "Why haven't you visited it?"

Already I knew the answer to the question, but it came anyway. "I built is so I could share it with someone," he shrugged "I don't have anyone."

The little house was so pretty I was about to throw myself in Damon's arms again and say I was the girl, but if I did that, I wouldn't be thinking straight. Who new what kind of vermin where lurking in there after a hundred or so years of being isolated?

"It's really beautiful. I wish I could have something this wonderful." I sounded depressed even to myself.

Damon walked to the door and slowly twisted the handle. I heard the lock to it snap dully and the door opened with a big creak. I looked briefly inside, surprised to see no ravenous raccoon jumping out and trying to eat us. There were a lot of cobwebs however. And extremely expensive and old furniture. But where was the bed? I thought that they were sleeping with each other here…or was I just being an moron.

Behind me, Damon was chuckling. "I know what your thinking. It wasn't anything like that. Well, not here it was anyways." He gave off a very wicked grin over to me.

I felt my entire body flush with embarrassment. "I wasn't thinking about _that_." I mumbled

"Sure." As soon as he said it his expression turned sober again. "My father got mad at me a lot. He saw me as the more disgraceful son. So I would come her. Katherine would follow. It's not like I minded though. I wanted her to come." he gave a more crooked smile this time.

I ignored that and made my way over to a small fireplace. Everything was so tiny. It felt like even if I looked at something it would automatically break before me.

Damon came up behind and touched a small Oakwood box that had a golden lock on it. It seemed like the kind of thing that was priceless in it's self. Well, Damon _was _pretty old, so who knew what was hidden in there? It could be like a million dollars or a pure gold necklace that belonged to some famous painter of some kind for all I knew.

I stroked the smooth, dark wood. It didn't even look like it had suffered any damage over the years. "What is this?"

Damon pushed his eyebrows together, like he was thinking whether he should tell me or not.

"You don't have to tell me. I was just curious." I hastily put in.

"No, it's fine. I just…forgot about it I guess." he sighed.

At least he remembered where the cottage was. I mean, if I lived for as long as he did then I wouldn't remember half the things that had happened in my life. And he lived longer in human years than I had too. I now felt like a child next to him. I had never felt that way before.

While trying to ignore all of the negative thoughts that were brewing in my head, Damon was snapping the little golden lock off of the box. "what are you doing?" I hated to see him breaking such a beautiful little artifact. The thing was probably more than my house.

Damon looked at me but the lock was already off and he was opening the box. "Come here. I want to show you something."

Curiosity got the best of me and I peered over into the box. My whole entire vision went gold and fuzzy around the edges. Inside was the most angelic, beautiful, amazing, wonderful thing I had ever seen in my whole entire life. It put the cottage and the furniture and even Damon in the shadows. It was the prettiest ring I had ever seen in my life. It was at least four rings connected on top of each other, each little ring was lined with crystalline diamonds down the length. In the middle of each ring was huge pink amethysts. It looked like a wedding ring that some huge famous star would own. I was so shocked by the sight of it I couldn't help but take a step back.

"Holy crap. Where did you get that?"

Damon had put the ring in his palm, like he was weighing in out, and held it out to me. I almost didn't want to touch it. I was afraid that if it wasn't in the careful hands of Damon then it would just snap in mine. I was pretty sure I was dreaming right now. This couldn't be real; this was like a fairytale. Somehow I got captured in one.

Damon walked over to me and pressed the ring in my hand. It was cold and I then noticed it was extremely old. "I bought this ring for Katherine after she told me she loved me. She wouldn't accept it though. I should have known then that she didn't mean it, but I was blinded. I never took it back. I thought it was too pretty."

"Yeah, it's way to pretty." I smoothed my thumb over one of the pink gems. The sunshine coming through one of the small dusty windows shined on the ring, it made sparkling patterns on the nearest wall. I watched mesmerized. "Did you come here for the ring?"

Damon's lips lifted up. It was a sort of sad smile. "Yeah. I remembered it a couple of weeks ago. I thought that since you were staying with me that I would show it to you."

I beamed at him. "Thanks. I'm glad you did."

"That's why I want you to…keep it safe."

I almost dropped the ring in surprise. I couldn't keep something like this. I would lose it or break it or something like that. I tried shoving it back in Damon's hand. "No. I can't. I would probably just ruin it or something."

Damon took my hand and smoothed it over between his, then finally, he placed the ring right on the correct finger.

"I think you'll do fine with it. In plus, it fights perfectly."

I looked at the ring again and then back up at Damon. "Why would you give it to me? This was Katherine's ring." I said quietly.

Damon leaned in until we were inches apart. "I think you're much better than her. You're just, Elena."

I knew he was going to lean in before he actually did it. That's how things were supposed to work. You gave a girl something pretty and you made out 'till you were both satisfied. Then you went on to live a happily ever after. The end.

But it wasn't the ending for me and Damon. In some twisted way it was the beginning. At least it was something like that.

He gave me something pretty, more that gorgeous actually, so there was no way I was going to lean away.

BAM! It was like a thousand little tingling sparks shooting in my lips and straight to my heart. It was kind of like Sour Patch Kids. First Damon was sour and then he was sweet. I think I was beginning to like these sweet moments. I couldn't help but step closer, until we were pressed together, and grip his jacket collar in both of my hands. Probably crushing the ring in the process. I knew I should have pulled back a while ago. I couldn't remember a time a Disney princess had made out this long. Or had there prince's slip there hand in their shirt.

That was what made me pull back. _My _prince was not who I was kissing right now. My prince was not even in proper calling range.

"Thank you."

Damon's disappointed glance caused from me pulling back turned into a smile. "For what? The ring?"

"That too," I laughed "I meant thank you for watching over for me while Stefan is gone."

He took a step back from me and his smile faltered, and then finally it just fell. I had just reminded him of something he thought would never happen again.

Was I really like Katherine? Was I just playing with both of them? I loved Stefan. And I what? Loved Damon? I had told him that, but I was caught up in the moment. He had cried over me. Something I had never thought would ever happen.

"Maybe we should go back." It was more of a question than anything. I didn't know what Damon wanted right now. No wait. Scratch than. I did know what Damon wanted. What he wanted was me. Exclusively. I didn't know if that would work out.

Damon peered at the window beside me, obviously seeing that it was almost sunset. "Yeah. We should."

As we went back outside of the little house I took one more good look at it. If I never saw it again I wanted to remember every detail. The rosy pink and orange sky was truly a sight to see in the forest. Infect, the 7 Dwarfs were probably waiting to get home right this minute. For some reason this made me feel giddy inside. Maybe my happily ever after wasn't that far away after all. All I had to do was wait here until someone would take me away. Away from all the mayhem and all the noise that constantly trudged through my life.

"Hey, Elena?" I watched as Damon turned around. We were walking to the car this time, where ever that was. Who knew where the heck we where?

I stumbled over a twig and slowly regained my balance. "What?" The whole time my eyes where glued to the magnificent ring I was now possessed with. No wonder I was tripping over my own two feet.

"If you like the house… you can have it."

The words stopped me in my tracks and I slowly lifted my gaze from the ring and onto Damon. I walked closer to him and felt his forehead. "Are you feeling okay? I think you must have hit you're head on something."

"Cute," Damon grunted, taking my hand off his head and capturing it with his own. "I'm being serious. It doesn't mean anything to me."

I started walking again. The sun was lower in the sky by now, and I didn't want any unwanted vampires lurking from behind the tree's to come and grab me.

After a while I spoke. "You don't mean that. You liked the house once."

Damon shrugged. "That was the past, this is now."

I should have been grateful. He had given me things that I couldn't even imagine. But there was something guarded in his tone. I guess it must have been hard for him to give up things that belonged to Katherine. That was why the more the fading sunlight glittered off the ring, the guiltier I felt.

Once we got in the car that was when I felt it. _This _was what it felt like to repeat history. This was what it felt like to be torn between two people. A few unwanted tears fell from my face.

I hoped Damon would never know why I shed them in the first place. If he did then he would take back everything he had ever said to me.

Silently in my head I was thinking, _Katherine, why did you do it?_

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A/N: I hate to say it but this will probably be the last chapter I post before I go on my trip. But I have some good news! Instead of my vacation being 7 days, it is only 5 days! And yes, once I get back I promise to write. Hopefully I don't get too sunburnt or bitten by a rabid squirrel. Or get eaten by vampires. I will be in the forest so the only thing I will be getting eaten by is mosquitoes. Well, at least I hope.

I'll see you guys in a couple days!

And to make me really happy you could review. The would make me uber excited!

Bye!


	14. Giving In Can Be Good

**God only knows how long I spent sitting on the couch, just looking at the ring. I had said thank you to Damon so may times he finally just told me to shut the hell up. I'm grateful for that. He was starting to worry me with all his nicey nice attitude. Damon could only be so nice until things started to get weird, so I'm glad he actually said something I would disapprove of.**

**After I had taken a shower and made sure I had the ring locked up, I somehow managed to make it to my bed without collapsing from exhaustion. Now I just have to figure out how to actually go to sleep.**

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"**You're going to die, Stefan."**

**I ignored her voice. I was focused on the little girl before me. Her eyes were still wide with terror. But this time she was dead. She was dead because I had finally lost control. The girl had struggled so much on her tiny chair that she just toppled over, unable to move or to scream. The blood trickled my way.**

**In a way Katherine got what she wanted. So did Damon, but he wasn't here to watch me crack. I had reached me full vampireness. That wasn't even a word. **

"**you're going to die." Katherine repeated in her sickly sweet monotone.**

**This was when I swung in to action. The human blood from only one person would never be enough to take someone as old as Katherine down. I only had to try and hope that this would work out like I hoped.**

**I pounced up from my spot, and with as much force possible in my body, I flung myself at her. Pinning her to the ground as she literally tried to claw my eyes from there sockets. She was as fierce as she was in 1864. More if possible.**

**While trying to get something sharp enough to stake her with, she had managed to get hold of my wrist and bend it back until I heard the snapping sounds. It didn't hurt but I knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to distract me and it worked. The next thing I knew, I was flying against one of the walls. I hit with a thud and the walls seemed to quiver. I fell to the dirty floors slumped over. I waited and waited until I heard her slowly walking over to me. As she leaned down to see if I really was out cold I lunged for her throat.**

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**I lay down in my bed, tossing and turning. It was literally impossible to go to sleep. Even worse - there was a thunderstorm outside. I hated thunderstorms more than spiders. They scared the hell out of me. **

**I cringed and grasped my pillow tighter as another roll of thunder and lighting belted through the sky. The rain was pelting hard on the roof and it didn't show any signs of letting up soon.**

**I jolted straight up in my bed as the loudest of all the thunder radiated into my chest and back through the room. Suddenly and slowly all at one, the lights flickered. Once…twice… and then they were out. I started breathing heavy. I hated the dark it seemed more than thunder and spiders all mashed together. I had seen things in the dark. Things that no human should ever go through.**

**Still sitting up, I slowly removed the plush covers from around my legs. As my feet hit the painfully cold floor I booked it towards the door. I ran until I finally managed to get to Damon's room and throw the door open. The sound was muffled my another round of treacherous thunder and lighting.**

**But there was no Damon. Infect the bed in the center of the room was still perfectly made. Well, where was he? It had to be a little over two in the morning. **

**I whirled around at the sound of a creaking floorboard. But there was only darkness. Just my silly over imagining mind at work.**

**I almost laughed at myself, but it came out shaky. The creak of the board really had put me on edge. **

**I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me, so I turned back towards the door and sprinted towards the balcony stairs. I hoped to god that Damon was out here. If he wasn't then I didn't know what I was going to do. I could not be alone right now. Thunder and darkness - my two biggest fears all pushed together in one big fear ball.**

**I pushed on down the stairs and swept my gaze over the living room. It was so dark I could even see my hand in front of my face. I squinted so hard my eyes started to ache and I managed to see a dark, unmoving figure somewhat laying on the couch. Hopefully it was Damon and not some crazy vampire stalker. **

**I stepped off the stairs, concentrating on not bumping into things and killing myself, but almost as soon as I said it, there was a big TWACK and a searing kind of pain in my thigh as I hissed out in pain. I felt a small trickle of blood going down my legs, but I ignored it the best I could.**

**I squinted some more and saw some shapes. It was a tiny cabinet of old oak wood with sharp, defined edges. It was filled with none other than books. Figures. Whoever said no one got hurt by books was obviously wrong. **

**I started to kinda limp over to the couch where thankfully Damon was lying on. Only the bad thing was he was asleep. **

"**Damon," I hissed "Time to wake up." He didn't budge. God, this boy was a deep sleeper. **

**I snapped my fingers in front of his face and some more trickles of blood traveled down my leg again. There was now a small pool of it in the crease on the front of my foot. It stung. **

**I shook his shoulder this time and he finally stirred. He took a deep breath before stretching his arms above his head. "What time is it?" He asked groggily.**

"**Little after two a.m."**

**He opened his eyes slightly. "Why the hell did you wake me then?"**

**I shuddered a little. The rain was still pounding away. **

"**Can't stand thunder." As if to prove my point there was a snapping sound that seemed to come from outside the house. It sounded like a tree branch snapping off. **

"**Oh," He started to lay back down, eyes closed again. "Then go ahead. Sit down."**

"**I can't. I need a band aid or something. I can't see a thing in here." I held out my leg a little.**

**And that was when I realized what I had done. I pulled back my leg quickly, but it was to late. He already saw. I looked at his face to see that he was cringing. If I didn't know that he was a vampire I would have assumed he got queasy around blood. But I knew better than that. I knew that he was resisting the urge to pull me over and drain me dry. All of our little visits ended in something awkward. **

"**Sorry," I said quietly "I didn't mean to do that."**

"**It's okay." As he turned his head I swore I saw the glittering of something long, sharp and white in his mouth. **

**Crap, I didn't mean to do that. I swear, I was the only one that could forget that vampires only lived for blood. **

**I couldn't help but wonder what having you're blood taken from the body would feel like. Would it hurt? Would it feel good?**

**Surprising both Damon and I, I asked- "Does it hurt?" As soon as I said it I was immediately embarrassed. Why would I ask a question like that?**

**He knew what I meant of course. "No. Not unless you want it too."**

**Whether it hurt or not I had always thought of having you're blood taken from a willing person was something along the lines of , now I was saying I was a willing donor? And that is was supposed to be sexy? I was just a little curious. What was the harm exactly?**

**I sat down dizzily next to him. Why was the world reeling around me? "I want you to." I said quietly as I held out my leg. **

**Damon shook his head, looking anywhere but my eyes and my leg.**

"**I think that's the stupidest thing I have ever heard come from you're mouth."**

**I pouted a little. I knew I was stupid, but he didn't have to say it straight to my face. "Why not?"**

"**You'll regret it in the morning." He said in a weary voice, like he had done this before.**

"**Please?" Oh boy, I needed to see a doctor,**

**Slowly, Damon turned his face to me. I couldn't see his expression. **

"**I don't want the blood, Elena." He grabbed the leg that wasn't covered with blood and pulled me over until I was practically on his lap. "I want you. Exclusively."**

**So what do you do when you're boyfriend's insanely pretty brother was willing to give himself up to you? Did you run or did you stay?**

"**I can't." His lips on my check were very distracting though.**

"**Are you sure about that?" His lips made a searing trail over to my collarbone.**

"**Yes," It sounded like a question.**

**Damon chuckled against my skin, the blood completely forgotten. "Really? Because you're heart beat says otherwise."**

"**That's because…it hate…thunderstorms." I managed between gasps. I was extremely breathless. His lips were like molten fire and I tingled from my head to my toes.**

"**Just let me, please." Jeez. Damon Salvatore did **_**not**_** beg. Even if the situation was dire. **

"**You just want to win the bet." My will was slowly slipping from my fingers and he could feel it.**

**He kissed my neck. "Just trust me." **

**I want you! I want you! I want you! My body was screaming, but my body did not agree with my head. My head was still telling my to get the hell away from him and suffer the consequences in the morning.**

**He had started to push me down so I was under him. He pulled me close and his lips brushed against mine and slowly made his way down to the top my chest. **

**I wanted to say **_**stop it**_**, but it came out a tiny moan. To stop it I had to bite down on my lip, hard.**

"**Just once. I promise I will leave you alone if you do this."**

**Stop begging! I was screaming in my mind. Stop tempting my with your Damon charm! "What if I don't want you to leave me alone?" Of all the things I could have said…**

**Damon grinned and continued kissing down my throat. "The more the merrier."**

"**But I can't." I don't think he was going to take no for an answer though.**

"**Yes, you can." His hand trailed up my shirt before I could stop him. "Just stop thinking for an hour. That's it."**

"**I…told…you," I still couldn't catch my breath. "I can't…be alone…in thunder…storms."**

**Breath, Elena! Breath. I felt in danger of exploding.**

**My shirt was going up past my stomach. His hands were soft and rough all at the same time.**

"**Please," Damon begged again.**

**I somehow managed to shake my head. "No. I won't be Katherine."**

**He moved his lips down to my stomach, kissing a hot as fire trail down to the top my shorts.**

**Another small moan made my way through my lips. Stupid hormones.**

"**You'll never be Katherine. You'll always be Elena." He kissed past my shorts and onto my non-bloody leg. "Please."**

**Unfortunately, the shorts I was wearing were exceptionally short, so I yipped out in surprise when he kissed me on the inside of my thigh.**

**This felt so right. Why didn't I just let him have his way? I squirmed under him. "I don't like being taken advantage of Damon." Some of my voice was back.**

**Damon lifted his head from my leg. "Is that what this is? A pride thing?" He chuckled. "I'm not trying to take advantage of you."**

"**Then get you're lips off me." I snapped at him. I could think somewhat clearly now that he had removed his lips from me. His face was still distracting though.**

**He placed both his elbows down beside me until he was just hovering before me. "Why wont you do this?"I hoisted myself up too. "Because I don't love **_**you**_**." I poked him in the chest.**

**If he was hurt by what I said he didn't show it. "Yes you do." He poked me back in the stomach this time.**

**I shook my head. "Not enough to sleep with you. I don't want to lose the bet either."**

"**Ugg! Would you just forget about the bet for one seconds."**

**I crossed my arms in front of me stubbornly. "No,"**

**Damon's head thumped against my shoulder once, then he looked at me with an extremely intense look in his eyes. The look did funny things to my insides. It felt like all the contents in my body where slowly dripping downward. I couldn't think. He wasn't using compulsion. I was wearing my necklace. He was just simply using that stupid Damon charm that I had a hard time resisting.**

**He started to get up but for some strange reason, I made his stop. "wait," I whispered very quietly. "How do I know you won't tell someone."**

**Damon's smile was heart wrenching. "I don't have friends, Elena. Who there be to tell?"**

**I threw my hands up in exasperation. "I don't know! The world!"**

**Damon looked at me strangely again. Despite my best efforts I was breathing hard again. What this guy could do with one look…**

**Somehow, without a thought or recognition or consultant of anybody in the world right now, not even Stefan of Katherine, I kissed him. I really kissed him. At the moment I wasn't thinking about the consequences of anything or anyone. I was completely sick and tired of having to resist Damon. It was exhausting. To tell the truth all I was thinking about was Damon, Damon and more Damon.**

**Outside more thunder boomed and I jumped, causing me to detach our lips. I grabbed at this opportunity to talk.**

**I said the words I probably have been wanting to say since the day I met Damon. **

"**Fine. I'm yours." **


	15. The Day Is Pleasantly Wasted

_Ha! I'm back. So after getting eaten by mosquitoes, almost blowing chunks from one too many Smores and getting burnt to a crisp by the sun…I'm back!_

_So I'm just going to shut up now and get this one with. Please reviwe at the end!_

"Ouch, Elena. You can put away the claws."

Damon surprised me by talking. We hadn't talk in what seemed liked years. Actually, it was only around 13 minutes. There was however, a lot of moaning going on. Much to my great embarrassment, I might add. Hey, blame Damon for that one. It wasn't my fault that he was so completely good at this. I think it had to do with all the years of experience behind him. Or, it could just be that he's Damon and he's perfect at everything.

I looked at my hands. They were clawed into Damon's back, making angry looking claw marks. Like an animal had furiously attacked him from behind.

I was going to say sorry for that but it came out as a breathy moan. Anyway, I hoped he got the message. Well, I hoped that was why he laughed.

I didn't even mind if this was a one way ticket to Skinny Dipping Land.

Because whether I like it or not - it was.

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There was only one word to describe how I felt in the morning. Confused and oddly happy-even if I didn't know the reason. I didn't know why I was in Damon's bed, or why I appeared to be naked. Then finally it hit me. All of it. It hit me so hard I couldn't help but bolt up in the bed and look at Damon with wide eyes.

Did I really…?Yes, I did really.

Damon undressed next to me was proof enough of that. The most shocking part was that I wasn't even mad or the least bit disgusted. He looked way to peaceful sleeping for me to be mad. Way to perfect. Totally conked out. He didn't even feel my little recognition a couple of seconds ago.

I swear, if vampires could hibernate Damon would be the first one to hear about it.

"Well, there goes everything." I whispered to myself, knowing that Damon was way to far in Dreamland to hear what I was saying.

The world had every right to blow up right now. There could even be a thunderstorm right now and I wouldn't even complain. Because right now Stefan should have sensed something wrong. Surly he should have felt me betraying him. Maybe he heard me. I was moaning loud enough for the whole entire neighbor hood to hear.

While I was trying to figure out this situation and put together my scrambled brain, I noticed something. I was 100% not guilty of what I did last night. Actually, last night was one of the best I had ever had.

This time when I turned my eyes back to Damon. his torso was turned away from me so I had a clear view of his bare back.

I felt myself flush over in mortification. There were those damn scratch marks. And they actually _hurt _him. It was pretty hard for a human to hurt and injure a vampire if I do say so myself. I lifted up my hand. Surly enough one of my nails was raggedly taken off. How hard was a digging in his back exactly?

I looked at Damon once again. The marks should have been gone by now-disappeared by his super vamp powers that I was so jealous of. So why weren't they? I lightly moved over to Damon's back and touched the soft skin surrounding the claw marks. God, his skin was soft. Pulling back a little I placed a kiss on one of the red marks I had made, hoping that it would make up for some of the damage I had caused. How did I go from loving Stefan to loving Damon so fast? How could I actually kiss Damon somewhere I should never be able to lay my lips on and not even flinch when I did it?

It was another beautiful day today. It may have been a burden to Damon, but to me it was a pure good sign. I could even hear the birds gaily chirping outside of the boarding house.

Apparently, Damon really didn't care if it was a nice looking day or not-Damon wouldn't care even if there were million dollar bills floating from the sky- because as soon as he got up and opened his eyes he squinted and groaned. But as soon as he looked at my face, he broke into the biggest grin I had ever seen possible on a person…or the undead.

Before I could even blink, Damon had me in his arms, placing kisses everywhere imaginable. I finally had to laugh and tell him he looked like a dog. I really, really didn't want him to stop though.

"Oh, I could so get used to this." Damon said while stroking my hair. Then he shifted a little and winced. "My back hurts."

My face was probably red as a tomatoes as I raised a hand "Guilty as charged. Sorry."

Damon looked in the mirror, which was placed on the wall directly in front of the bed . It showed us, more than intimately intertwined together, with Damon's head turned towards the mirror. His face showed a sort of surprised humor.

"_You_ did this? Jeez, and here I thought I was indestructible." Damon touched one of the marks.

I stroked his shoulder, unable to shake how soft his skin was. "Why aren't they healed? I thought they were supposed to clear up like this." I snapped my fingers.

"That's one of the perks of being undead. When you have sex you put out half of you're control into the other person. In order to do that you're body has to take away some of you're abilities to do something's. Unfortunately, these scratch marks will be here for a couple more days."I bit my lip in consideration. "Well, that's embarrassing."

"Yeah," Damon agreed. "So no beach. Wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea about us." He winked at me.

I poked him in the chest. "_You _don't care what people think. If you had a choice you would walk around with a sign saying: _Come look! Elena Gilbert did this!"_

I wasn't trying to me mean and I was glad when Damon laughed. I don't think I was sure on how I should act around him anymore. I could still be snarky right? Or do I have to give that up too?As if he read my mind, Damon just said, "Be yourself, Elena."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know if you remember or not, but I just slept with my boyfriends brother."

I don't think Damon cared. "You don't see me complaining do you? And just so you know I do remember last night. Infect," He kissed my neck "I could tell you every…little…detail." Damon drew out the words and I held my breath.

Yup. I could really get used to this.

I was just about to say something, when a ringing went off downstairs.

It was the annoying chiming of the doorbell. Hell.

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Katherine thrashed and struggled as I held her in a unbreakable grip of steel. I wondered how long it would be until she actually gave up.

As soon as I got the chance, I pierced my teeth into her skin and bit down until it felt like they were going to snap off. This would not kill her, but I would take anything I got right now.

I searched around numbly for something to stake Katherine with while I still had the chance. There was nothing. Not a simple small sharp thing was in sight. Nothing. Zip, zilch, zero. Nada.

I felt completely wrong all over. I had the chance to end all this and I here I was wasting the only opportunity I would ever get.

In one motion I was flipped onto my back, Katherine hovering over me ready to kill me. Why didn't she just get it over with already?

Katherine never took the lunge necessarily to end my undead life. I never felt anything. But then I froze over until my insides had plummeted all the way down to my feet.

I felt here lips, cold and probing, on mine.

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Damon and I stared at each other, to stunned by the interrupting sound of the door downstairs to do anything. And then finally, we realized the situation. Nobody could catch me with him. Especially with my…bare state. Elena Gilbert was with Stefan Salvatore, NOT Damon.

In a flurry of moments we both flew off the bed, Damon was faster than me of course-just another thing I was jealous of- and stumbled over to the discarded clothes we had so willingly shed last night. Great, now each time Damon wore that shirt I would constantly be reminded of _the_ night. I wouldn't even be able to look at my clothes ever again without blushing. Damon gloriously naked would be forever imprinted in my brain. It wasn't the worst image in the world…

I was yanked out of my dizzy daydreams when the pounding downstairs got even louder. I glanced over to Damon who was completely dressed, thanks to his cool vampire speed, while I was still struggling to yank on my jeans. He was motioning me to go faster, but I couldn't mistake the gleam in his eye for anything else. He was obviously taking me in without a shirt on. Such a guy…

"Little help?" I hissed as I snapped the jeans on and grabbed the last of my undergarments.

Damon just smiled, probably not the least bit worried by anything, and threw me the rest of my clothes. He walked back over to me. "Stay up here. I'm going to see who it is."

I hooked my bra up and nodded. But as soon as he turned away from me and towards the door, I stopped him and grabbed his hand that was freely swaying next to his side. Before he could ask me what I was doing, I kissed him. I kissed him so hard that I was tempted to take him back over to the bed and start all over again.

The pounding and frequent ringing of the door bell downstairs had finally ceased and I sighed into Damon's mouth. Now that the person, whoever the interrupter was, was finally gone I couldn't help but hope it wasn't too early for round two. Ding, ding, ding.

Damon probably had the same idea because he was walking me back over to the bed, gripping my hips in an almost bruising form. I wasn't going to say a word, except for the occasional breathy kind of moan. I wanted to wake up every morning and do this, just get lost in Damon, without the care and weight of the outside world. Damon could take away the pain.

But the only thing he couldn't take back was what happened next.

As Damon and I continued our lost-in-each other make out session, I didn't even realize the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs…the stairs that led to straight to Damon's door. Didn't even realize the foot falls fast approaching the door. I was to caught up in the sensation of Damon's lips nipping at my neck, no doubt leaving a mark that I would have to cover up later on.

That was when the door opened behind Damon and I, that was when I heard a shocked gasp, that was when I realized I was on the bed, tangled with Damon, without a shirt on, moaning and gasping like there was no tomorrow.

I jolted from where I was laying, pushing Damon away until he was almost flung off the bed and looked around, gasping for the words that would not come, but I hoped that would anyway.

"…Mr. Saltzman…what are you doing here?" It was the lamest sentence ever, but else was I supposed to do?

All it seemed that Alaric was doing was watching me with a horrible disbelief. My own history teacher seeing my without a shirt and tongue tying it with my boyfriends brother. What else could possibly do wrong?

It was if on cue - that somehow God had wanted to answer my question- Damon got up off the floor and looked at Alaric, walking towards him slowly. I was shocked at what he was going, actually I had no clue what he was doing until Damon stood in front of him and looked him deep in the eye, like he was looking for the soul or something.

That was when I realized what Damon was doing. Compulsion.

"You never came here. You never saw this. Get in you're car and go home."

I sat on the bed, unable to move from where I was planted. I watched it all.

I also couldn't help but look down at Alaric's wrist. The wrist where a pretty bracelet with…vervain was perched? Oh, god.

"Damon, stop." It came out harsher than I intended to. I pushed off the bed and walked over to both of them while slipping on my shirt. Modesty was now out of the question.

I crossed my arms in font of my chest. "What are you doing here?" I looked at Mr. Saltzman with what I hoped was a firm glance. I don't think anyone was convinced though.

Alaric looked at me with udder disbelief. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

I opened my mouth but no words would come out, just choked little gasps leading up to nothing. After a while I managed a cored explanation. "Damon's watching over me while Stefan is away."

This time Alaric was the one who glared at me, and then over at Damon. "Yeah, I can see that."

Hey! He was my history teacher, he had no right using sarcasm like that.

I tapped my foot harder and looked over to Damon, gesturing for him to get my teacher the hell out of his room. Damon seemed to get the message so he stepped back over to Alaric. "Why are you here?"

Alaric rolled his weight over to his left foot and cleared his throat. I just watched, annoyed and wanting him to get to the damn point. Wasn't he supposed to be grading papers or something? No wait, that was stupid. It was summer. He cleared his throat one more time. "I just came to see _you._ Not Elena."

I refused to be offended; obviously this was a mans' conversation. Vampire too teacher, no Elena.

I raised up my hands. "Fine, I can take a hint. I'll go." Except that I wasn't. Hopefully Damon wouldn't hear me pressing my ears against the door in order to hear this so called 'important rant.'

I walked out of the room and carefully shut the door behind me, all the while pressing my face to the door, trying to catch glimpses of their conversation. I couldn't really hear anything, all I could manage to hear was, "What…doing?" and "Vampires…attack." and then something that sounded like, "Sleeping…Elena?…Brother?"

Jeez, he was actually ratting Damon out like he was the older authority and not the century old vampire.

The next sentence I heard almost blew me through the door, my jaw dropping to the floor. Alaric's voice was completely clear, like he was yelling it just for me to hear. "It's not safe here anymore. If you really care about Elena then you need to get out of here."

Hold up, time out. Leave? How can I just leave? What if Stefan came back? Then how would I explain all of this? God, I could imagine in now. "Hey Stefan, I'm so glad your back. I missed you and I really hope you didn't get hurt. Oh and by the way… I slept with your brother." Then of course I would have to explain how I didn't need for him to use compulsion, I wasn't drunk and I didn't even bump my head. It was simply me just giving in to what I guess I've always wanted. Then I would try to laugh it off even though it was not even funny at all, and then finally I would watch his heart break into a trillion little pieces.

Yeah, good plan. I thought sarcastically.

I stood there, biting my nails and almost fell though the door when Damon opened it. I stumbled to a halt, ignoring how they caught me eaves dropping, and glared…and glared.

I threw my hands up. "Well?" A tiny earth quake inside of me exploded. I hated being left out of the loop. I was past of this mystical world too.

I saw Damon and Alaric exchange a nervous glance between each other. Damon looked back over to me slowly, like he didn't really want to. "We have a slight problem."

I squinted at him. "Yeah, when don't we?"

It looked like he was trying to suppress a laugh but before I could be sure, his face was a composed mask; serious. "I'm serious, Elena. There's been four murders in the last two days."

I blinked, shocked at this information. "And that's why we have to leave?" It wasn't really a question; it was a statement.

Damon simply nodded. "The people who killed them, there Katherine's help. So, pack you're bags, Elena."

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_I know, I know. This chapter was short and it probably sucked, but hey, I've been getting eaten by mosquitoes and getting painfully sunburnt this week. So who can blame me? Okay, don't answer that._

_Anyway I hope the next chapter will be up soon and please forgive me for my lack of imagination so far. _

_I guess it's going to take me a while for me to get back in my element. Oh well._

_Please review. It will make my day!_


	16. Failure

_Here's chapter 16. Wow, we've come a long way haven't we?_

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I stood there, just pacing and trying to figure out what I was going to do in a situation like this. Leave or stay? Damon was a vampire so why couldn't we stay and he could go out and kill those guys? That seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. How could we just go and leave this town for the vampires? Not just any vampires but Katherine minions. They were no doubt trying to get to me, find a way to kill me or bringing me to Katherine herself.

"Ready to go?" Damon walked into the room, hauling in some suitcases. I didn't even want to know how old those things were anyway.

"Not even packed." I mumbled and dug my toe into the carpet, waiting for him to go through the painful process of telling me why we _had _to leave again.

Damon heaved a sigh and dropped the suite cases on the floor. He walked over and placed his hands on my shoulders. I tingled all over but I tried hard not to show it. I was hell bent on resisting today.

"Elena, I know this is not the right thing to do but I'm not just going to leave you here for bait." He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and smoothed his hand across my cheek.

"You don't have too," I grumbled but couldn't help but lean my cheek in farther into his palm. "Just put me somewhere safe and you stay here."

I should have known that he wouldn't have bought what I was selling.

"No way am I leaving you alone. If you go then I go."

I bit my lip and rubbed my temples. "Where are we going anyway? Won't they just follow us."

Ever since Alaric had left, Damon hadn't smiled once, but he did now. "Not if we go far away."

I quirked an eyebrow. "How far are we talking exactly? Half across the world far or around the corner far?"

Damon shrugged and let out a real cocky smirk. "Doesn't matter. Pick somewhere and we'll go. Not before you pack you're things though. Unless you want to were nothing…"

He stopped as I passed him a disapproving glance, and then when I caved and smiled. "Funny."

"I know. But I was being serious." He kissed me chastely again, pulling away sooner than I would have liked, probably worrying I was going to throw myself at him again and get caught by a different teacher this time. He swiftly walked out of the room, big suitcases in his place.

Might as well get this over with. Traveling to God knows where with Damon Salvatore should be any girls dream, especially since I was now Damon Salvatore's girl. I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling though.

Why was Katherine even born?

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"God, what did you pack in these things?"

"Oh, please. You're the one who's always bragging about you're cool super strength. Be a man." He was half way right. I did pack a lot. In my defense I didn't know how long we would be gone. It could be years before someone stopped Katherine and her evil ways. That girl needed mental help.

"You try to carry these things. You packed the whole fricken' room with you." From the other side of the room I glared at Damon.

"So what, sue me."

Damon mumbled something I couldn't quite make out. It sounded like, "Mood swings" or something. Please, he was the one dragging me somewhere I really didn't want to go. I would have been just fine in this house, in this town, in Damon's bed… even if there were killer vampires on the loose. I doubt Damon would let one hurt me.

Finally dragging the last of the suite cases down the stairs I dropped them at Damon's feet. He glared at me. He was the one who had to carry them to the car.

I waved my hand at my baggage. "Come on, their probably light as a feather."

He lifted up the suite cases with a grunt. "I told you… vampires can't function…after sex."

I bit my lip. It was raw after all this contemplation. So that was why he was having so much trouble today. Cool, I was probably the first one to break down Damon.

I mumbled an embarrassed sorry and picked up one of the smaller suitcases in my clumsy hands. A thought suddenly accrued to me. "Is that the real reason we're leaving? 'Cause you can't fully protect me?"

We walked down the stairs, struggling with our bags. Damon looked at me. "Yeah. I'm guessing that's kinda stupid, huh?"

I winced. "It's not you're fault. I was the one who jumped you're bones."

Damon chuckled. "Don't see me saying anything." He walked over to the car placed in front of the house, flipping open the trunk that was jam pack full of luggage. "Wow, we need a semi truck or this cars gonna blow a gasket." I searched for a mocking tone in his voice, but there was none.

"I could always get rid of some stuff." I poked on of my bags. "it's not like it's going to matter."

I think under normal circumstances Damon would have objected and let me bring whatever I wanted, but it wouldn't help anything considering once we got on the road all the tires would blow out. We were trying to run away, not get caught. The key word here was _trying. _

"Umm…yeah. That might be a good idea."

I raised an eyebrow. "So who's going to lug it back upstairs?"

Damon turned to me. "Rock, paper, scissors?"

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I was never going to play that stupid game again. After I won the first time Damon insisted that we do two out of three. So that's how I got stuck with the job of lugging not one, but two suite cases up the stairs. Damon was sitting in his stupid car with a stupid grin on his face. That damn perfect face…

I crossed my arms over my chest as I made my way down the porch stairs. My day was officially ruined.

I just plopped myself down in the passenger side of the car, buckled my seat belt and glared at the windshield. I could feel Damon's eyes on me, smirk still in place. "Are you going to go or are you just gonna sit here and stare at me?"

"Maybe, but it also would be nice to know where we're going."

I shrugged. "Pick some place. No wait, why don't we just play Rock, Paper, Scissors again to see who gets to pick?" My sarcasm was heavy and biting.

Damon let out a small laugh that he had to muffler into a cough. Smart boy.

"You're the one who agreed… but I'll just be the bigger person and let it go."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you do that." Before he could remark on that, I reached over and turned his keys in the ignition so the car came to a rumbling start. "Just go before I fall asleep on you."

There was a quick upturn of my mouth that I couldn't help but let go. Fighting with Damon was kinda funny in a weird way.

"At least then you wont be talking." Damon whispered to himself and pressed his foot on the gas. "Oh, and Elena?"

I shifted from the window and looked at Damon. "What?"

"We're driving to London."

I swear I almost swallowed my tongue. "You're not serious." I just looked at him and when he didn't do or say anything I knew he was being straight with me. "Oh boy. Do you even know how long that's going to take? That's like 45 hours long! I could die in that amount of time."

Damon looked at me with a strange expression, glancing at the road every few seconds. "Elena, you've been alive for 18 years, I think you can handle for two days of you're life to be wasted. In plus, you should be excited. London is one of the top ten romantic cities of the world." Damon raised an eyebrow. "So, I don't know about you but I am _immensely _excited to get there."

The tiniest of smiles made it's way onto my lips and I relaxed in my seat. "45 hours in a car is a long time. I could get car sick." I never got car sick.

Suddenly the car slowed down, coming to an immediate halt. "What are you do-"

Searing heat. Searing heat pulsed through me as Damon's lips pushed on mine. Making out in a car in the middle of a road. Kinky. As he took both of his hands off the steering wheel, he placed them on my thighs, dangerously close to my…all my thoughts were cut off as I thought of something.

Driving 3077 miles from Virginia to London with the cost of gas and hotels: $3,000. Guilt chocolate you will need to buy when you're boyfriend figures out you love his brother: $10. Sleeping with and traveling halfway across the world with Damon Salvatore: Priceless.

Damon pulled away after what felt like years of making out. Cars were lined up behind us, honking horns and yelling and occasionally flipping the finger to us.

I was tempted to get out of the car and sock each one of them personally. "What was that for?" I didn't have to look in a mirror to know that my lips were red and my hair was mused. You just expect these things after a while. It made me think what an eternity with Damon would feel like. I would probably a melted puddle of satisfied goo.

"Just trying to distract you. Is it working?"

I laughed as Damon pushed on the gas pedal and drove faster then before. "You could say yes."

"Knew it would."

"What is that supposed mean?" I knew exactly what it meant. In Damon's words: I'm easy like that.

"It means that this isn't going to be the most disappointing drive of you're life. We have to stop at motels, you know." I could taste the smile on his face without even looking.

Gee Elena, I wonder why. Maybe it has to do with the fact that you've practically tasted everything on the guy. My conscience was obviously being snarky today. Truthful but snarky.

Rolling my eyes, I pointed to the road. "Don't you think you should pay attention?"

"Please, I could drive with my eyes closed."

I really hoped he wouldn't do that. If we got in a car crash he could just get up and walk away. Maybe he would be nice and take me with him.

At least, I hoped he would.

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I didn't know what to do. The world was reeling around me. The girl who was hell bent on destroying me and all the things and people I loved was kissing me. Kissing me like we used to back in 1864. Kissing me like nothing ever bad happened between my brother and I. I couldn't respond. Not just because she was holding my wrists in a way that I couldn't move an inch, but I couldn't move because this feeling so familiar. It made me think of all the good times we had… it felt…good.

I was going insane. This wasn't supposed to be happening. I was supposed to be with Elena. If anyone were to cave and let Katherine back on their hearts it would be my brother. He spent forever looking for her, not me. So why was she kissing me. I was not Damon. I was not going to cave and destroy everything more than I already had. I had to get her off me. Who knew what she had planned?

With the greatest heave of my life, I hoisted Katherine off of me, hearing her fly against the wall and land on the floor in a big heaping thud. I heard her scrambling back to get up with a big hissing sound.

Reacting. That was what my father always told me I had to do before I did something that would really get me in trouble. I had to think of it. Really _think _of something to do to get me out of a situation like this.

Maybe there was nothing to do but wait…and talk things out?

Could you talk things out with a girl like this? She really didn't seem to listen that much.

All I could do was hope and try. Try like there was no tomorrow.

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"How long has this been anyway?"

"We've only been driving for 30 minutes. You're just going to have to be patient, Elena."

I heaved a big sigh and tapped my fingers against the console. In situations like these I didn't really do patient. "I never should have had sex with him." I was saying it to myself in the quietest voice I could manage but somehow today was not my lucky day and the car came to a screeching halt for the second time today. At this rate we were going to get nowhere.

Reluctantly, I looked over to Damon and cringed. He was taking deep slow breaths, hands clutching at the steering wheel in a strong grip. It looked in danger of crumbling into dust. Maybe he was getting some of his weird super power things back.

"What is that supposed to mean?" His voice was cold. I hated it. "Is this because of my brother or something?"

Oh jeez. Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut? I didn't even mean that way. I should have slept with him another time. Like, oh I don't know, after Katherine's crazy vampires lurking around each corner! Maybe then we wouldn't be in this situation and we never would have left and I could be happy in Damon's bed. Everything would be right. Well, partially anyway.

"That's not what I meant." My voice was so quiet that it could hardly pass for convincing. "If I never would have slept with you then we wouldn't be in this position. We wouldn't be leaving."

Beside me, Damon was rubbing his forehead like he had a headache. "Would you just stop blaming yourself for everything. Maybe then we wouldn't be in this position."

I hit my head against my seat. "Would you just drive. And you don't have to take everything so seriously."

Damon was shaking his head. "Then you stop bringing everything up. If you didn't want to sleep with me then why are you here right now? Why are you even talking me? Why are we even bothering with each other?

Oh shit. I sure knew how to get myself in tough situations. "That's not what I meant. Just drive."

Somehow he managed to take his glaring eyes off of me and back on the road. The car going slower than ever.

I was wrong. This was going to be the worst drive in my whole entire life. Hello two beds at the motel. Goodbye being comfortable for the rest of my life near Damon.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you sleep with me. It wasn't even worth it."

My heart froze in my chest and time seemed to slow down. That was the worst possible thing he could have said. In the most menacing voice I could conjure up, I hissed, "Stop the car…now."

He just looked at me, eyes squinted. "What?"

"I said, stop the car."

With a disbelieving grunt the car stopped. Good, if he wanted to leave so much then he could go himself.

I pushed the car door open, unbuckled my seatbelt and stormed out. My arms were acrossed my chest as I walked into the other direction. I was going to walk, maybe even crawl if I had to. Anything to get away from Damon.

"Where are you going?" Damon was beside me in a flash, hand on my shoulder. I yanked it away so hard I almost flew to the ground.

"Leave me alone. I'm going home."

"You're walking home. Are you crazy." He let out a bitter laugh.

"I guess I am." I whirled around, stopping in my tracks. The wind was so cold it stung my eyes and they teared up. I didn't really know if it was because of what he said or really just the wind. Probably some of both. "If you want to go so bad then go. I'm not going anywhere with you." I poked him in the chest, but it was so had it was more like a punch. "Everything I said to you I take back. I don't love you and I never should have slept with you." With that I just spun around on my heel. This time I didn't hear Damon following me. For all I cared he could rot in the ground. That's how things were supposed to be.

Whispering - and knowing that he could hear me even though I was about 30 feet away- I said, "Congratulations Damon."

He was the biggest jerk in the world. No, he was bigger than a jerk. He was like Jekylland Hyde. One moment he was perfectly wonderful and then the next he was basically telling me that sleeping with me was the biggest mistake of his life. And he had lived a long time.

This was gonna be a long walk. Not only do I have to think about how much I hate Damon but we were like 30 miles away from the boarding house.

I hadn't said this in a long time but… I wish Stefan was here…

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_Uh-oh…trouble in paradise. Sorry if it doesn't meet anyone's expectations or it's to small._

_Please review though!_


	17. Dirty Fight

I was about ready to crack and throw the biggest hissy fit of my life. I was cold, it was raining- which I don't get because a second ago it was sunny- and Damon was trailing his car behind me. He obviously was expecting me to hop back in the car and go rid into the sunset with him. But let me tell you one thing- I was not gonna crack. I was strong and I think after thirty minutes of walking I could endure about forty more. Well, that's at least what I kept on telling myself.

"Just come on, Elena. This is stupid!" Damon yelled at me from the safe haven of his car. _I _wanted to be in that car- just not with Damon in it.

"No!" Yes, this was stupid. I was fully aware of that. I was not going to London, I was not going to beg Damon for forgiveness- he was the one who owed me an apology- and I was gonna lock myself in Stefan's room until he came back. "If you think sleeping with me is so bad then just leave me alone!" My voice was toned out by the strong gusting wind and the icy rain. Shivers racked my body. God, I wanted to go home. No, wait scratch that, I wanted to go back in time. This never should have happened. It was half my fault and Damon's.

I sighed and wiped my wet face with the back of my hand. _Just keep going, Elena. Just keep walking._

But I didn't want to. I wanted to go to sleep. All this crying and walking could drive anyone crazy. Maybe that was why I was still walking- I was good with the crazy. And I for one was very crazy.

I turned to look at the car with Damon occupying it. It looked warm. And safe. It was looking better and better each minute.

As I stared at the passenger seat my eyes accidentally met Damon's eyes. They looked blue, cold… and very sad. I quickly turned away. The last thing I needed right now was to throw myself in the car and beg for everything to go back to normal.

Why was it so God damn hard to stay mad at this man? Why couldn't he just do the sensible thing and do something or apologize? Anything! I hoped he was getting my telepathic message saying: _I still hate you but I really want to get in that car with you!_

"Come on, Elena. I didn't mean it." I could barely hear him. Not because I was tuning him out or because the rain and the wind was too loud, but because there was a roaring sound coming from behind me.

Spinning around to see what the hell the noise was, I gasped. A semi truck the size of the Titanic was zooming by, not even seeing the poor helpless teenage girl on the side of the road. Well, not until it was too late of course. As the truck zoomed by it hit the biggest puddle I have ever seen in my life. However the huge puddle quickly vanished and ended up on none other than me.

I stood there, dripping water, completely fuming and too furious to speak. I was breathing hard like I had just ran the biggest marathon of my life. Now I had to walk to the boarding house not only angry but also completely soaked with muddy water.

That was it! I was done! I plopped down, right on a patch of mud and just sat there, arms acrossed my chest and still breathing hard. Damon's car stooped in front of me. I ignored him even when he got out of the car, laughing. He was laughing! God, I was so gonna kill him.

"Up an' Adam." I stared at Damon's feet, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Elena, you're soaked. Don't be so stubborn."

"Oh, I'm stubborn? Just go away.""And leave you here?" He crouched down beside me. It was raining so hard he was completely soaked. "I don't think so."

"Why do you care so much?" Water was dripping into my eyes and down into my lap.

"I don't think Stefan would appreciate it very much if he came back and you were gone."

Ugg! Why couldn't he be serious for 5 seconds? "Is that it? If you just came out to mock me then get the hell in you're car and leave me alone!" I flung my hands up in exasperation, which was a very, very bad idea considering once I did it I splattered mud all over Damon's face.

I gaped at what I just did. I let out a sigh of disbelieve. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

Mud coated my face, my hair and even got inside of my mouth. I glared at Damon while spitting out some chunks of wet dirt. "I can not believe you just did that!" Damon had managed to get some of the mud off but really all he did was smear it even more.

I sprung up, handful of mud in my wet palm and through it at him as hard as I could. Part of me doing this was to get some of my anger out at him but the other part was because seeing Damon with mud coating him was one of the funniest things I had ever seen.

As I dodged another handful of mud headed straight towards my face I managed to get close enough to Damon to where I could push him over. Catching him completely off guard. He was headed straight into the mud mess I had sat upon.

I couldn't help it. I laughed as Damon fell in the mud. As he struggled to get up I knew those clothes were completely ruined. Mine probably were too. Damon was absolutely covered with brown goo. All the way from his shoes to the tips of his hair. The only none brown part of him was his eyes. Blue and completely anger filled. I took a step back. "Umm…sorry?" What else was I gonna say? What I really wanted to do was laugh my friggen' head off.

Damon wiped some of the mud from his face and then his shirt. It was no use. "So I try to be nice and come out and help you and what do you do? You attack me with mud." The weird thing was that he didn't sound angry despite his eyes. He sounded like this was the funniest thing he's done in a while.

Besides sleeping with me of course. I stopped short in my laughing. "Why did you say it." I asked quietly and Damon stopped right in front of me. He didn't even ask what I meant. He knew exactly what I was talking about.

Damon rubbed his jaw, smearing the mud even farther than before. "I was just…mad. I guess,"

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "You guess? I told you in the car that I only wished I had gotten with you later. Then we wouldn't be leaving. So maybe it is my fault for bringing it up but you shouldn't have said it anyway. And I guess that maybe what I am trying to say is that I'm sorry and-" He cut me off with my babbling with his lips against mine. He tasted like mud- which was kinda funny and also gross- and Damon.

My hands were numb, I was sopping wet, and I smelled like a dairy farm, none of it mattered when Damon kissed me. Instead, my hands and whole body warmed up and tingled, I didn't feel so wet anymore and the world smelled like candy. Oh, this was so cool.

As soon as he parted his lips, he looked at me with the eyes of a thousand words. They said - "I'm sorry" and "Please forgive me." The kind of things he would have trouble getting through his own mouth and too my ears.

"I said the things because I'm the biggest idiot in the world."I smiled and poked him in the chest. This time I did it lightly- not so much like a punch. "Yeah, you are the biggest idiot in the world. You're a jerk too." I laughed and help back from my shivering. "you're also pretty stupid. And dirty." I did a once over on his mud clad body.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm a fucking idiot."

I looked back at the car. "You really willing to get you're seats dirty? You're not gonna make me walk right?"

I must have looked doubtful because he laughed. "No, just get in the car. I'm pretty sure my car can take it."

"I don't know," I said while walking over to the wet and muddy car and opening the passenger side door. "If there's one thing I know about you it's that you love you're car."

Damon scoffed and sat in the car, getting his seats equally muddy as he was. " I really think it can manage."

I rolled my eyes at how serious and dead set he sounded. The car rumbled and made it's way across the road, rain pounding hard on the wind shield.

We sat in equal silence for a couple of minutes, listing to the wind howl. Outside I was not freaking out at all, I was just calm, but inside I was bursting to tell him something that was kinda lame and a whole lot embarrassing. The silence just seemed to provoke my thoughts.

_Just do it, Elena. Just tell him this is all you're fault. But most importantly tell him you love him. _

My nails bit into my hand, making little half moons, telling my conscience to shut up. I didn't need that kind of consultant today. I had been through enough crap for the day.

Before I could chock on my thoughts and all my words I blurted it out. "Hey, Damon?" I winced at how squeaky my voice sounded. I sounded like a mouse caught in a trap. Doomed for embarrassment and pain- only if rejected and laughed at for what I was about to say.

"Yeah?" He took his eyes briefly off the road to look at me.

"So… about what I said back on the road, Ya know…about me not loving you."

I couldn't be sure but I swore I saw Damon smile out of the corner of my eye. "Yes?"

I swallowed, hard. "Well, I didn't mean it." There! Halleluiah! I said it! I just hoped he would save me the effort of trying to say it again.

This time I was sure I saw him smiling. Was he mocking me? Probably.

"Hey, Elena?"

I turned my body to look at him. "What?"

He winked "I always knew you didn't mean it."

I smiled and hoped to god we wouldn't fight anymore. Fighting was not fun.

"Oh, and Elena?"

"Yeah?" It came out as a content sigh. The next thing he said threw me off guard.

"You're skinny dipping tonight."

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_WOW! That was the shortest chapter I think I've done in a long time. I guess it was just a filler upper!_

_Please review…_


	18. Late Night Dip's Are My New Thing

"I honesty can't believe that you are making me do this." After a long talk with Damon I finally convinced him to let us stay in the boarding house. Turns out that he was kidding about the whole going to London thing. We were actually just going to stay in a Motel about 50 miles from were we were actually living at the moment. Yeah, ha ha. It could have been funny except for the tense situation. We found out that some of Damon's strength came back - he even managed to take the suite cases back up the stairs- and we just figured that if the vampires came back and tried to eat me or anything that Damon could single handedly take them all down. My hero. But the fact that Damon is now all high and mighty again doesn't obscure the fact that he always keeps his word.

So that was why I was walking barefoot down to the creek, a towel in arms and a smiling Damon by my side. He _always _keeps his word. You think that would be a good quality in a guy but I guess it depends on the guy.

"Hey, let me be the first to point out the fact that this is halfway your fault." Damon was practically jumping with joy.

Trying to tune him out I clutched my towel closer to my chest, struggling to fight the urge to deck him in the head with it. So instead I focused on where I was stepping. It was pitch black and I couldn't risk stepping on some glass or anything. Or even a bee. I had to stay mentally and physically fit in case I had to run from any ravenous vamps. Not like that was even possible but a girl could dream.

I was close enough to the creek that I could see the shining black top of it. My stomach got all jittery. It was not that I was nervous, it was more that I couldn't help but wonder how absolutely cold it was going to be. Last time I had done this when I lost another stupid bet with Damon it was hot out, so despite how embarrassed I was at least it felt good. Now I had a feeling that it was going to be the exact opposite of good.

"You'll be fine. Just try not to think how freezing that water is going to be." He was taunting me and I tried to ignore it buy plopping my towel on a near by rock.

"You know, if you were nice then you would go in with me." I knew that wasn't going to happen either.

"Yeah, I really don't think that is going to happen." I sat down on the rock next to my towel and waved a hand at me "Go ahead. The sooner you do it the sooner it's over."

I rolled my eyes. It was more like the sooner I did it the sooner he would laugh at me.

So hoping that he wouldn't take pictures of me I stripped of my pajama shirt - he had woken me up from a nice peaceful sleep to do this- and shot it right into his face. He just laughed and put the shirt in his lap, folding it like it was something precious to him.

I sighed. Obviously nothing was going to urke him tonight. I just continued to take the clothes off, all but biting my lip off to bare the bitter cold, and this time I placed them near my bare feet. If I gave them to Damon odds are he would just throw them in the lake or something.

Before dipping my toe in the water I shot Damon a dirty look and walked towards the water. Holding my breath while I hesitantly put my foot in, all the have me yank it back out. "It's freezing." I said between clenched teeth.

I heard Damon's laugh behind me. "Just go, Elena. The sooner the better."

I shut my eyes and dipped my foot back in. Before I could turn my back on this whole thing and have Damon drag me back I walked closer into the water until it was almost to my chest. My body was racking with shivers.

Cringing, I held my breath and dunked my head under. I almost gasped at how absolutely cold this was. It was so cold it was like a searing heat, making it's way through my body and freezing my heart along with it. Before I could burst and drowned my self with this whole attempt, I lifted my head up from the water with a big gasping breath. I was only under there for about six seconds but it was so cold it felt like I couldn't breath.

I turned back into the direction of the rock and Damon. Damon who was laughing hysterically and Damon with my towel in his lap.

My limbs were numb but somehow I managed to trudge my way back up the water and onto the brief sand leading up to the rock.

"I-I'm…never…do-doing t-that…again." I almost bit off my tongue in the attempt to talk but I'm sure he got the message anyway.

I snatched the towel from Damon and before he could even stand up I took my long hair in my hands and wrung it out. Water was dripping onto his lap as I laughed.

"Come on," I said as I put the towel around me and grabbed Damon's hand "I have to show you something." I didn't have to show him anything at all. I was just grabbing at the chance to humiliate him. Hopefully this worked. If I had to bear the cold then so would he. Vampire felt the cold right? Well, even if he didn't he would still get wet. My memory went back to when Damon and I had our little mess in the tub and smiled. Damon in water was like putting a grumpy cat in water.

I pulled Damon along, daring to get him closer and closer to the water until his shoes were practically touching the rippling edge.

"Okay, now come closer."

I bent over at the waist and crouched down, making sure that the towel didn't slip my grip and peered into the water. I saw nothing but blackness but my main object was not for Damon to really see anything, I was just trying to get him to suffer my cold, cold pain.

Reluctantly and slowly, Damon went down beside me, obviously not seeing what I didn't see either.

Without him knowing, I hovered my hand above his back, close enough to where I could feel the heat radiating off his body. Once he got close enough…

Before I even knew what was happening, my hand was pinned in Damon's grasp and I was also being pinned to the sand. My hair was flung out beside me. I couldn't even make a sound it all happened so fast. I looked up to find Damon laying before me. The moon was like a shining beacon behind him. Glowing and putting some light in our path.

Damon leaned closer until he was obstructing my view of the moon. "I'm not that big of an idiot." he whispered. Lips dangerously close to mine. "And I am not falling for anything. I'm not the one who lost the bet, now am I?"

I didn't say anything. What I was really doing was savoring how he felt against me. Hard and soft. Brick and feather. Because as soon as Stefan came back then I would either have to tell him or sleep with Damon in secret. I don't think that was even possible considering how loud I was when that kind of thing happened. If you know what I mean.

Damon looked at me again, probably wondering what I was thinking about. "What."

Great, I knew this question was coming. "Do you think Stefan's okay." I could see the brief look of disappointment in his blue eyes. It quickly faded for something else I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Damon rolled off me so he was looking at the star filled sky, his head supported in his palm. "I think he's fine."

"Is that why you let him go?" I traced the seam on my towel, which had now become my blanket.

"What do you mean." I could just tell by the way he said it that he knew what I was talking about.

"You're the stronger one. Why did you let him go?"

His surprising look of embarrassment clouded over his face and clouded his eyes. "Do you really want to know?"

Although I nodded I really didn't want to know. Anything that embarrassed Damon was sure to make me cringe too.

"I just thought that if he left…then I could spend more time with you. That's really stupid when you think about it."

I laughed and rolled to my side, hand clutching my towel to my chest. "Hey, Damon?"

He tore his gaze from the stars to look over to me. I didn't have to speak loud since I was laying right next to him, comforted by the heat coming off his body. "Yeah?"

I whispered, "It worked."

My lips met his the second I said it. I said it because I meant it. I meant it because I loved him. I loved him because… it was hard not to. He was like a a beaten and broken dog. You take him home to take care of him and then boom! You fall in love with the thing.

But you don't kiss the dog like I was kissing Damon. This kinda kiss was fiery and mind blowing and it didn't hurt that he had rolled my under him and had his hand slowly traveling up my thigh. Yup, couldn't do this with a dog.

A sound came deep from within Damon as I pressed into his hips. Some of the towel had fallen away from me but I was a little too occupied to put it back in place. As he took his lips from mine and put them on my collarbone I made sure that my hands weren't dug into his back. He was wearing his jacket and who knows, maybe they had gone away, but it sure would be a good thing if they healed by the time anyone made another surprise appearance at the boarding house. It was just good to be precautious at these kind of things.

Instead, I placed my hand on the back of his neck. Just my palm and no part of my finger nails. I arched to his body and had to bit my lip from making one of my loud moaning noises. We didn't need the park rangers coming and searching for the wounded doe they thought they heard. All I could do was hook one of my legs around one of his hips and hope that we could make it to the house before things got a little to steamy for the raccoons to see.

Damon nipped at my neck, right at the place where my pulse was pounding the most and this time I allowed the tiniest of squeaks to escape my mouth and hoped to God that there were no noisy vampires lurking in the tree's and watching this whole ordeal.

Damon's lips were back to traveling up my throat and to my ear where he whispered, "Probably should go now."

I smiled but kept my eyes closed, knowing as soon as I opened them I would be seeing stars of my own, stars that were not the ones in the sky.

"I don't know," I whispered in breathy tones "sex in a forest sounds pretty good to me."

I could feel Damon's chuckle at the base of my throat. It made my heart stir and want to jump out of it's rightful place. To try to cease the painful thumping going in inside me I placed my lips back on his, pushing even more forceful than before.

Damon laughed as he pulled away, causing a very grumpy look from me, and put some of my mused hair behind an ear. "Are you trying to be persuasive?"

My hand wandered up under his shirt to caress that unnatural soft skin and warmth. "Maybe…it depends. Is it working?"

There was a brief tingling on my skin as Damon looked at my chest where the towel had fallen away. His lips twitched around a smile… or something else I couldn't tell. "Very."

I lowered my hand from his stomach and hooked my fingers into the front of his jeans, hoping that he would just put his lips back on me again.

"Can't do this."

My head shot up. "What?" I couldn't help but put in the hurt and accusing note in my voice.

Damon buried his face in the crook of my neck. "A public display of affection in the forest is a fine of $200."

I rolled my eyes and looked into his blue one's. They weren't the cold one's anymore. They were the deeper, smoldering blue. The warmer kind. The most beautiful color in the world.

For the longest time I just stared into those eyes, imagining someone actually drowning in them. And by someone I mean me. It kinda sounded like the safest place to go right now. No danger, no darkness, just Damon and all the wonderful things that we could do together.

"You know what's funny?" I said after I managed to tear my gaze away from his.

"Mmm?" He sounded distracted.

I had to put my fingers under his chin to get him to look at me. "We never really had to make that bet."

"And why's that?"

"It's kinda obvious. I probably would have ended up falling for you anyway. So why did we have to make the bet?"

Damon smiled. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe the bet is what _made _you want me."

I chewed my lips, considering this. "Well, no. I guess not.""Well, if you ask me, if we never made the bet then we wouldn't be in this position, now would we?" He gestured to our bodies. "If we never made the bet then you would continue hating me."

I frowned at this. "I never hated you, Damon.""No?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Cause I'm pretty sure that there was some hate there."

"That's only because you were annoying," I poked him in the chest "And for the record you still are."

He clutched his chest in mock hurt. "I'm wounded, Elena."

I let out a sad little smile, thinking that he could never be wounded -unless staked in the heart- and would never die. He would continue living while I would be rotting in the ground.

Damon must have noticed my unease because he cocked his head to the side, causing the moon to flash in and out of my view. "What?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

Biting my lip and adverting my gaze was the sure fire way to tell when I was lying.

"Tell me the truth, Elena."

I bit my lip again. "It's just… you never age." It came out a frustrated sigh as I gestured to all his perfect male glory.

A sort of bemused look crossed over Damon's face. "Yeah, I've noticed."I groaned. This was going to be harder than I thought. "That's not what I meant. What happens when I'm, like, thirty and you're still twenty- one forever."Finally he must have noticed my distress because he let out a sad smile that matched mine. "Elena, you're only eighteen, you have plenty of time to think about this. Who knows, I could be killed off by then. Or maybe you wont love me anymore."

I cringed at all of these possibilities. I didn't want any of them to happen. "Well, what happens when you have to move? People will start to notice that you're not aging a day."

"Elena," He groaned and thumped his head on my shoulder. "Can we not talk about this now? We have plenty of time to worry about all this."

"Just thinking ahead." I grumbled it more to myself than anything.

"In plus, males stop growing at, like eighteen."

I snickered. "Is that why you're so short?"

Damon sent me a disapproving glance. "Funny. Do you even pay attention in History class?"I shrugged because the truth was that I really didn't.

"Well, if you did then you would know why I'm so…"

"Short." I laughed again but tried to cover it with my hand.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Doesn't it have to do with how people back then were a lot shorter then they are now or something?"

Damon rolled his eyes "Or something. So for the record I was tall back then."

Snorting, I looked back at the sky, savoring how good it felt to have Damon's lips back at my throat. So this was what it felt like to have a taste of Heaven. And for the longest time I always though that the closest I would get to Heaven was strawberry cheese cake. Boy, was I missing out. Making out with the guy I once hated - but now loved- under the stars with just a towel on was the best the world had to offer.

As Damon caressed my hips with feather light touches and nipped at my neck, I was barely aware of the sound of rustling tree's. There was no wind.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

The voice came through the trees.


	19. Finding Misery

_Before you read this I just want to say that I am so unbelievably sorry that I have not posted anything in so long. I have been very busy with school, sports, homework and the recent death of my grandma. You may not be able to forgive me but I am truly trying my best to post every week now. _

_Incase you guys did not know this- I know the people who do know- there has been a writer out there who has been stealing everything I have written and put it in their story. She claimed that since I had not written anything in over a month that she was going to take it from there…but I also wanted to say that I forgive this person completely. Actually I am very sorry for accusing that person of everything that she did. She is a great girl who is only one year older than me and shares my same obsession with Ian somerhalder (and yes: He is a hot mess who is lovin' it hell yes!) I hope you enjoy the story. I may be kind of rusty though. Sorry it's so short!_

My head snapped up before Damon's did, almost causing us to collide. And then there was silence. None of us wanting us to raise up our heads and face the voice that had spoke through the woods. If it was Katherine I wasn't prepared. Nobody was ever prepared to face their evil doppelganger when all the things in their life had suddenly turned into a cheap downhill rollercoaster. I was breathing hard as I looked into Damon's wide eyes. They never looked away from mine as I prepared to be the bigger person and slowly lift my head so all I could see was the big shining orb in the sky. Could the moon mock you? Yes, yes it could.

I prayed silently to whatever God would want to answer me when I had messed up so many time as I hefted my body up, Damon practically sliding off me without a sound. I stood up and resisted the urge to puke when I heard some silent laughing behind. This time Damon was the first to react, throwing his body in front of me to protect from the unseen dangers that I knew was frustrating for him. Not knowing what the danger exactly was that is. Yeah, well it was frustrating for both of us.

I resisted the urge to spin around blindly and look at Damon again. The voice didn't sound female, but maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. A girl with a deep voice? No, that was just paranoid. I racked my brain some more. Maybe it was a boy who hadn't reached puberty yet…

I spun around, trying to face something I couldn't put a face to. I was on the verge of screaming "show yourself." That sounded like something out of a Stars Wars movie.

In one swift motion I looked back at the mocking moon and then back to Damon, slowly walking closely to him. "We need to go. Now." There was no point in whispering. Whoever was stalking us was most obviously a vampire. A vampire could most defiantly hear us.

Damon, like always, had other ideas. In a burst of inhuman speed he was all around the moonlit clearing in under 0.2 seconds. My brain couldn't even process how fast he was going. Before I could shout out to him how much of a bonehead he was…he was back and scooping me in his arms. Thankfully with the much needed towel around me. With the situation I must have forgotten about my state of udder nakedness.

The wind was whipping by me so fast I felt like I was on the outside of a jet going as fast as it could go. I was going to be scared of airplanes for the rest of my life. I wanted to scream that I wanted him to put me down this instance but before I could even squeak Damon was setting me down, opening the door to the boarding house, and all but pushing me inside.

I whirled around before he could lock me inside. "And where do you think _your _going?" I struggled to keep my weight on the old oak of the door before he left.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to beat the crap out of the bastered in the woods." With a fierce look in those eyes I had stared into so many times he just left… just like Stefan had. I was alone once again. But I would be damned if it was going to stay that way for long.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

Hours. I spent hours waiting by the phone, looking out the door every five minutes, waiting for any sign of Damon's return. Was he okay? Did he kill the vampire? Or did the vampire kill… no, I wasn't going to say that. Not after everything we had been through. What if Stefan was dead too? Katherine was stronger than both Damon and Stefan combined, she was bound to get to one of them at some point. Or maybe the inevitable happened. Maybe Katherine had gotten the best of Stefan. Maybe he had fallen in love with her again. A repeating cycle of endless doom. Was that all this was? I hoped not.

I sighed, hard enough to make my chest hurt, and clutched the black throw pillow tighter to my middle. It smelt like Damon of all things. So there I lay in a helpless ball next to the flames of the grand fireplace, just letting the pain of remembrance gnaw at my heart. This kind of pain was unreal, it hurt to bad. This kind of pain was stupid. I was probably worrying about nothing. But then why was I flinching at every little noise that made it's way inside? Was I afraid that some vengeful vampire was going to come barging in through the front door? No that was crazy. Vampire chose the hard way, like crashing through windows to make some grand appearance. Like that made them cooler or something.

I laughed, a pitiful sound that rang through out the room and than came back to me. Crashing through windows was something Damon would love to do. I wish he would do that already. Come through the door, make some horribly crude joke at me just to make me grimace. Anything. I would take any of that. Anything just to know that he was okay, his limbs still intact, all of him in one glorious piece by my side. Where he belonged.

The pain didn't really give the signs of giving up so I just let it be, hoping that if I went to sleep I would dream of Damon lying next to me.

As soon as blessed sleep finally felt possible I heard a sharp sound at the door. My ears snapped to attention and I bolted upright from where I was slouching next to the fire. I waited for what seemed like years for the sound to come again…but it never did. For some reason this didn't help my already grated nerves. Before I could try to go to sleep again I picked myself up from the floor, the glowing fire the only light in the house or the outside world.

"Damon?" I called out, my own voice scaring the crap out of me. "Are you there?"

I walked as slow as humanly possible to the door. It seemed to reverberate, shake with some weird pulsating energy. That was what scared me the most. My hand tingled as it touched the frozen doorknob to the door. I guess if the situation was different then the knob to the door would have felt warm or reassuring, but know? Know it just felt like some big joke. Not wanting to beat around the bush anymore and just get this all over with I yanked open the door with the power near to what a vampires would be like. Or something close to that. What I saw horrified me. There was nothing but air, but with one quick glance to the ground, feeling totally hopeless, I saw something white, shiny and out of place on the front door step. A… letter. Before I could even think of picking it up I squinted outside, sure that some vampire would be hiding behind some bush waiting to attack me. Nothing came out. Infect nothing even made a sound besides the call of a sleepy owl in a nearby tree. Overall that shouldn't have made me nervous but my heart was pounding so hard it physically hurt. Trying to keep one eye on the darkness before me, I bent down and with shaky hands I picked up the shiny piece of construction paper. This all would have been so much easier if Damon was here. He would have been the one to pick up the paper, telling me to wait inside or something awfully protective. And then me -being hard headed like always- would object, telling him to knock it off and to let me by so I would be the one to bend over and pick up the paper. I would always remember than having a vampire with you could be great but also horrible at the same time. Just like love and lust didn't keep the same company.

I took the paper between my thumb and forefinger acting like if I made the wrong move the bomb would go off and so would I. The paper looked harmless enough but how would I ever know if I didn't open it? Silently, I stood up and shut the door behind me, making sure to lock and deadbolt the thing. Sure wouldn't be a problem for a vampire… they could just rip open the door. That or come through the window.

I made my way over to the fire again, the light making it possible to read the ancient writing. The script looked like it belonged in a fairytale, small and awfully curvy. It practically killed my eyes just to look at it. I crouched tighter into the corner, squinting at the writing. I squinted some more and then I was sure that my heart had stopped all together. A thin line of cold sweat broke out onto my forehead, down my spine, and I started shaking, the tears in my eyes finding room to run down my face, unnoticed. The letter read:

_You underestimated me. Now look what happened. If you want either of them then I suggest you keep out of this. They were never yours to hold, Elena Gilbert. They were always mine. So know you have to pay the price. Happy hunting, Elena. Hope I will see you soon.._

It wasn't signed. But I knew who it was. Katherine. I sat there and just stared at the note for the longest time. Damon and I thought that we could just go sneaking around like nothing was ever going to happen. But now look what happened. You know what they say. If you play with fire then your going to get burned. That was exactly what Damon, Stefan and I were doing. It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull or provoking a vampire with the nicest blood around. I was provoking Katherine the same ways Damon would provoke me, and then you get the rest. An. Endless. Cycle.

I didn't want to look at the letter anymore so I ripped it up slowly and threw it into the fire. I couldn't bear to look at anything anymore. I closed my eyes and curled into a tight ball, like I was trying to curve around my broken heart.

This was it. We were all going to die. She would start with Stefan, the one I loved first, and then Damon, the one I shouldn't have loved but did anyway, carelessly breaking the heart of another vampire. She would kill me and then she would kill my family. A dull thud sounded in the back of my head, beckoning me to stop fighting it and then simply break down. That was what I wanted to do but I was trying to stay strong. If I was stronger then I would be out there looking for Damon and maybe even Stefan if he wasn't in Italy anymore. But I wasn't strong like Katherine or brave like Stefan. I wasn't even brave, strong or arrogant like Damon was. I was just Elena. And that was why I was laying on the floor, crying and feeling sorry for myself. We Gilberts had a way of things.

With that I let myself break down. I hoped Katherine was happy.


	20. Riley

_Well, would you look at me. I actually kept my word and wrote another chapter! How awesome am I? Okay wait…don't answer that. I might not like the answer. Okay, I'll shut up now. Here's the next chapter in the Damon/ Elena series. Oh, wait. Can you guys answer this question really quick? When do you guys think I should stop this story? And what do you think should happen In the next chapter. Okay, on with the story…_

I woke to the sound of chirping birds, something that felt out of place with the moon still in place and all. Weren't the birds supposed to 'till morning to do that kind of thing? My eyes shot open. Why was I not on the floor? Didn't I fall asleep there? Had I finally gone crazy? I quickly looked around. I was in Damon's bed, there was no mistaking that. But how did I get there? Could I really sleep walk? No. Well, at least I hoped I couldn't. I looked around a little harder. The alarm clock to the right read that it was 6:00 am, which would explain the annoying chirping of the ever present birds. It was dark and nothing seemed to be out of place. Except, of course, me.

Just as I was about to throw the covers away from myself and go sleep by the fire again…there was a noise. I don't think I would have noticed it if it were any other night, but tonight I was high on my guard, flinching at every sound that was made. This noise could not be ignored. It was a creak of the floor boards down stairs. At first I was too scared to move, my knees aching under the pressure. I kept on thinking, _psychotic vampire, psychotic vampire…_The vampire that had killed Damon was in my house and was know going to kill me.

I jumped a little at that sentence, jumped so hard that I was falling out of the bed. After all, I didn't know that anything had happened to Damon. For all I knew he could be the one downstairs, or maybe he had just killed that vampire and the floor boards creaking downstairs was just my imagination. I was really hoping it was the first one.

Thinking since I was already on the ground I might as well get up, I silently picked myself up off the floor and looked at the door before me. I really, really didn't want to do this. I wanted to jump back in the bed until it was light out and dream the Damon was going to be alright and by my side in the morning. Well, know I was just going to find out the end of this story myself.

I took a huge breath and crept over to the Damon's door that was half hidden by the darkness. The door wasn't closed all the way and I swore that I saw a shadow of light passing by the opening. Great, so there was a ghost in the house too?

I tried to keep the sound of my footfalls as silent as possible as I opened the rest of the door up and turned the corner to find the steps from under me. I looked back nervously to Damon's room. It looked more comfortable then ever. Know I was just trying to convince myself that Damon was lying in his bed, asleep, and that I was thirsty so I just hoped out of bed with no worry in the world to go get a glass of water. Nothing more and nothing less. Everything was alright and my heart was not about to beat out of my chest so much that it physically hurt. My feet only made soft padding sounds as I made my way down the stairs and found myself facing a bright light. Not the light of a flashlight or the light of a extraterrestrial. It was the light…of a regular light. My heart was beating so hard it didn't even feel apart of me now. But not out of fear. This light gave me hope. If a regular psychotic vampire would come into my house and try to kill me he wouldn't be so obvious in putting on the light and leading me down here. Either that or he and/or she meant to do this and was going to kill me.

Even though my thoughts were still all mixed up I still forced myself to go down faster to the source of the light, which was coming from the kitchen. God, I hoped Damon was alright. Faster and faster I spun and all but sprinted to the kitchen, the light still shining and my heart still pounding. I was just about to see what the commotion was about in the kitchen when I my sock slipped on nothing and I was facing the floor faster than I could say "I shoulda stayed in bed."

I hit the ground hard, hard enough to see stars. My chest ached under the impact I had sustained and I could feel my lip split as my teeth buried into it. I groaned as some blood dripped to the floor. I was falling to much for my liking tonight. I struggled up on my elbows, my tongue not liking the way I was licking at the blood coming from my mouth. I blinked some and then looked up.

I wasn't really clear on what happened in the next few minutes. The person in front of me was definitely not Damon. For one this person was not a man, but a kid. The only similarity between Damon and the child is that they were both remarkably good looking. This little boy of about 13 or 14 was looking at me with wide chocolate eyes like my own. He stood rigid with shock, standing so still that to human eyes he looked like a real live statue. But I knew better. This teenage boy was not human. This boy was a vampire. And I wanted to know what the hell was going on.

I jerked onto my feet with the force of the world on my aching shoulders. "Who the hell or you?" I wanted to seem like the older more stable one in the room but the presence or aura that this boy put off was hard to match. You could just tell by looking at his glorious face that there was something about him that made you want to listen, to pay attention.

The boys eyes darted around the room nervously, but that was the only thing about him that was moving at top speed. If he was planning his escape he wasn't doing a very good job for a vampire. And then, all at once, the boy was moving to quick for my eyes to follow. He was flying up on the counter, the refrigerator, around me and then he stopped. All in under one second. He was closer than safe for my liking but as soon as I looked into the glorious eyes I stopped worrying. It took me some time to realize that this little boy was scared.

His face was so close to my own it rattled my brain at how beautiful this little thing was. He might only have been 13 but he was my height, my size. I nervously took a step back, the foggy stupor trying to leave my brain. I was just so confused onto what was happening.

"Who are you?" I said it quietly, not wanting to scare him. But the boy didn't answer me. He just stared harder, as if he was trying to burn a hole into my brain. I felt something warm and sticky dribble down my chin. I quickly wiped it away, but as I looked down at my hand it wasn't the drool that I was expecting.. It was just the blood that never stopped coming from my lips.

Not at all scared by this mysterious boys presence anymore I walked over to the sink, grabbed a towel and pressed it to my mouth. Even as I turned I could feel those eyes burning into my back. It burned. And just as I was about to turn around and demand what this boy was doing he spoke. Just like that. I didn't even have to ask again.

"You look just like her." His voice was alluring.

I dropped the towel and a cold sweat broke down across my forehead and back. I turned back slowly to the stranger, "What did you say?" My voice was all but a squeak.

"It's amazing. The eyes, the hair," There was a hint of a smile here " The body."

I was hopeful that he didn't mean what I thought he meant. How did this boy know so much? What had he seen? What was going on? And most importantly, how did he know Katherine?

"Who are you?" I said again, this time a little more uncertain.

The boy shrugged. "I'm here to help you."

I stared into those familiar eyes, trying to find where I had seen them before. "What do you mean help me? Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am. But I know you, Elena. The only important thing you need to know is that I have to help you. From Katherine."

"How do you know Katherine?" I struggled to keep the sanity on my voice.

The boy smiled one of those strangely evil smiles. Half of it was beautiful but the other half was sensual, evil. How was it that this boy could have the sexuality of a man?

"My sister is not the most help."

I looked at him with a horrible fascination. "Katherine is your sister? But…how can that even be possible? What do you want?" This last part I screamed. This was just too much.

The boy put a hand on my shoulder. "I just want to help you. My manes Riley. Katherine has your two lovers."

My breathing stopped all together. My world was darkness, but not before I felt two warm hands catching me before I hit the ground.

VDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVDVD

This time when I woke up the world outside was light and warm. There was something wet on my forehead and when I pulled it off I realized it to be a damp cloth. I lifted my upper body off the couch, the cloth falling into my lap. The boy, or Riley, was sitting at the base of my feet. The sunlight only proved to highlight his perfect features. He was just like Katherine. Sensual and beautiful no matter what the age. But this time, I hoped, that I could trust this one little friend. Couldn't I?

From across the couch Riley's' eyes reached mine. "You've been out for quite some time. I was worried." The glint in his eyes and the light tone to his small joke reminded me of someone else. Damon. The thought made me a little happier and then a lot more sad.

"Why are you helping me? Why aren't you with your sister, helping her?"

Riley looked truly perplexed. But in the end he just shrugged. "Why shouldn't I? Damon was one of my best friends when I wasn't a… when I wasn't like this." Now there was definitely sadness in his voice. "He was a bit old, not by that much but he understood me, talked to me." He looked at me in the eyes again, the eyes looking so much like mine. "You love Damon so I am going to help you."

I nodded, but I also wanted to do so much more. Like wrap him in my arms and thank him over and over again. Without him I would never had known what had happened to Damon. I would be alone with my conscious mocking me. But even now I was still on me guard. I wasn't even sure if I could trust him. What if he was as much as a backstabber as Katherine. He was, After all, her brother. I would just pray that everything would be alright.

Riley must have sensed some distress because he grabbed my hand and said, "Everything is going to be fine. I promise that everything will be fine."

I just nodded again, laying my aching head down on the pillow. I was going to pray until everything became blurry. With that in mind…I blacked out again. Vampires made you sacrifice more than anything. But they were also worth it if you loved them like I did. Maybe I was addicted. Possibly.


	21. History Revealed

For the most part Riley's presence was nothing but comforting, but there was just something about him that made you take one look into those eyes and say, 'that boy is not normal.' Crazy, I know that for the most part. Maybe it was the way I would catch him sneaking peeks at me when he thought I wasn't looking. He of all people should know that a vampire needs to be a little bit more careful with those kind of things. But I had to remind myself that even though he was well over a 100 years he was also a kid at heart. So maybe it wasn't that weird that he had the tiniest crush on me. The weird part was that I could have passed as his evil sisters twin. It's not like he was exactly making a show of anything…but all the same I could tell these things. I didn't have a choice though. He was my ticket to Damon. That was only if he kept truthful to his word though.

"How exactly do you want to do this?"

I looked up from the book I was more or less reading. Riley has walked into my room- not knocking like any other vampire would- and looked at me with those intense eyes. His beauty radiated through out the room like a crystal to a mirror. My confusion couldn't help but seep through. "What do you mean?" I had a feeling that I should have known what he was talking about, but my head was still fuzzy from passing out a couple of days ago.

He rolled his eyes. Such a kid. "I meant what do you want to do about my sister."

I just looked at him as he sat down beside me on my bed. "That's you're job." I said as flipped a page from my book. I was trying to find the part where the princess found her knight and they lived a happily ever after, lived in a castle and had three fairy kids.

I tried to keep my eyes from Riley but I could tell they were burning holes into my head. I wasn't being entirely fair. He couldn't have been expected to do all the scheming.

I watched as the book was torn from my hands and thrown across the hall, creating a puff of smoke and a small crack in the wall. "Are you even taking any of this seriously? Damon could be dead and you act like it's nothing. Last time I checked you were supposed to love him!"

I flinched. This had struck a nerve. I had spent all the time pretending that everything was going to be okay and Riley was my light of hope in a small dark closet. So like any child I just hung my head and gulped down the tears.

"Sorry. I am just trying to say that if I had the chance to do some things over again I would have made a plan A, B and C. But if you really want my help then _you _also need to help."

My eyes went up to look out the window, bright and made with different types of colors. I quickly caught my reflection and then just as quickly looked away. I didn't feel like looking at myself these kind of days.

"Yeah, okay." I climbed down from the bed, forcing his unusual closeness away. What exactly was it with vampire boys and their confidence know-a-days. The unnerving reason to laugh bubbled up in my throat. I quickly pulled it together.

I walked closer to the window that held the collage of colors, trying to figure out which one I liked better. I held my stare for the longest time until I figures out that Riley was waiting for me to say something, anything. He was as uncertain as me. My level of vampire experience was sadly lacking. We couldn't charm our way out of this one, that was for sure.

"It sure would be nice to know where she was hiding them." I said this mostly to myself, almost unaware of anyone's presence. But something about Riley's silence was weird. That was the time for him to agree with me or at least something reassuring that would make me feel more on the same page with him.

I turned around to find Riley nervously picking at his nails, something I knew no male, vampire or no vampire, would do if he was not nervous. "We don't know where they are, right?" I waited for the response.

"Well, I know where they are but I was kinda hoping that we could have a plan before we just went barging in there like nobody's business."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. This was just too much work. I thought for a while and then spoke again. "Does Katherine still trust you?" He gave me a confusing look so I continued. "Does she suspect anything, I mean? Does she know that your trying to help me?"

Riley shrugged. "No. As far as she's concerned I just took a road trip to god knows where. She trusts that I will be killing people and not helping you."

I snorted. "Some sister you have going for you there. Does she even realize how much damage she's done?" I was pacing back and forth the room now.

"Please, we're talking about the women who used to torture bunnies when she was 12."

The thought was disgusting in it's self, but it made me smile to think that Katherine is not the opposed mask she fakes everyone into thinking. She was as every bit as crazy as the Mad Hatter.

I shook my head some to clear it. "So how about you just go to where she's stowing them, distract her while I sneak to where Damon and Stefan are, feed them some of my blood so they will have the strength to kill her."

This time Riley was the one to flinch, "We have to kill her."

I looked Riley in the eye and put my hand on his shoulder. "If we ever want Damon and Stefan back then yes." I couldn't help but miss that troubling look on his usually masked face. "It's the only way, Riley." I said this quietly, trying to calm him down. "it's for the best."

I took a step back while Riley shook his head over and over again. "You don't understand how powerful she is. She will have sensed you coming. If she doesn't then when I am trying to distract her then she will hear you. If Stefan had the chance to kill her over and over again then why don't you think she's not dead already? It's because she's just too strong. I don't think we could just win this and expect to walk away. And what happens if we did kill her? She had friends that would come chasing after us. More powerful, deadly friends who wouldn't stop until her vengeance is covered."

I all but gaped at him. That was the longest thing he had said since he was charged with breaking and entering into the boarding house. So this kid really did know what he was talking about. Kid… that reminded me.

"So how old are you exactly Mister Smarty Pants? If you're so old and wise then why don't I just drop down next to you're feet and pray?" Great, know who sounded like the kid?

Riley crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot. "it's considered rude to ask somebody their age, didn't anybody ever tell you that?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Not likely. So really, how old are you, Squirt? When you were turned, I mean. Thirteen? Fourteen? I just want to know that I am not putting my fate in the hands in a kid."

Riley rolled his eyes. He seemed like he was used to this stress induced behavior.

"Not that old," he finally said "just seventeen."

I scoffed. Like that babyish face was ever going to be that old. "Right, and I'm the bride of Frankenstein."

Riley flashed a brilliant smile in my direction and walked towards the door. "I don't know Elena. Stranger things have happened."

He was gone even before I could reply.

"Are you sure this is going to work? Can we even trust the guy."

I nudged his shoulder from across the car. "We can trust him. He had all the vampire weapons you can ever dream of…and more."

"I don't know. Vampire and vampire weapons don't sound like they would really mix."

I rolled my eyes. "When you're a Mystic Falls vampire they do."

It turned out that Riley wasn't kidding when he said he was seventeen, even though I still wasn't entirely convinced, but his drivers license begged to differ. Outside the scenery was perfect and serene, like it had been for the past couple of days. The sky a perfect blue, the grass a perfect green, the trees swaying in the breeze perfectly. Everything was just so…perfect.

"Worst type of weather there is." Riley sighed beside me after a couple of minutes.

I was about to ask why that was when I remembered what Damon had told me. The ring only protected you from the sun, not from the suns harmful rays against your eyes. I quickly looked at Riley's chest. No lapis Lazuli necklace. I looked down at his fingers resting on the steering wheel. Nope, nothing there either. Weird.

"Where's you're protection?"

Riley jumped a little and looked at me strangely. "Where's my what?"

I shifted uncomfortably, realizing what it just sounded like when I said that. The last thing I needed to give him was unnecessary confidence that would get us nowhere. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I meant where is your ring? The one that protects me from the sun?"

"Oh, that protection." He chuckled a little. "That," He lifted a lock of his deep chocolate hair from his ear and when he did it shone a sparkly bluish earring. "Is on my ear."

I grinned. "Now that, my friend, is what I would want if I were ever a vampire." I expected him to laugh with me but actually gave me a sad sort of grimace.

"I have to tell you something."

I looked over at him some more. I hoped this wasn't to serious. "Okay. What is it."

"Alright, don't get too mad at me. Before I left to find you I talked to Damon."

A deep pounding was protruding my brain. "And…"

"Well, he said that if you were going to come with me and try to get them back then I would need to do something for him." I tried to ignore the big heaving sigh he gave at the end of that sentence. "He said that I had to give you some of my blood."

At first I didn't even get what he was saying. It didn't even possess fast enough. But then it set in. I tried to keep my voice calm. "And why would he say that?" My voice was still shaky.

"Come on, Elena. Your not that naïve. We don't know that you will come out of this alive. I don't even know if I will come out of this alive."

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. "But she's you're sister. She can't do that."

"Sure she can. I come at her, she comes at me. She wont stop until she gets wants."

"And what is that exactly? My misery? She already has that. If she want my pain then she already has that too. There is nothing more that I could give her that she wants. Nothing."

Out of the corner of my eye I caught Riley shaking his head. "She wants you to know what it feels like to die of a broken heart."

Sounded like a riddle to me. What was that supposed to mean? You can't die of a broken heart. If you could then who am I to say that I would still be breathing, standing, living?

"So I'm guessing that she never told you how she died."

"Gee, no. Never really had the pleasure of sitting down and talking to her about it." I hoped he caught my little bit of sarcasm there.

"Well, I guess that she had this vampire lover that she adored so much that she would do anything to be with him. Of course I was only three so I never really witnessed anything."

"What happened to him?" There was never a happy ending to these stories.

"He got staked by an old enemy. Katherine says that she died of a broken heart the next day. And then she woke up as a blood sucking monster. Of course they had exchanged blood so when she died the change started to take effect. She waited until I was older to turn me-" He must have stopped because of my gasp I didn't hide.

He grinned. "Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you that. She changed me on my seventeenth birthday. Happy birthday to me. You see, at the time I also had a…vampire girlfriend. One day Katherine just came up to me said 'see you on the other side, brother' then snapped my neck like a twig. All in front of my family I might add. They also thought that Katherine had died fourteen years ago so you can see how it came as a double shock."

That was honestly the most insane story I had ever heard. I was rattled to the bone. How could Katherine ever be that cruel? Even to her own brother. She was one branch short of a tree that was for sure.

I was about to say something else when the car came to a stop.

"Is this it?"

I looked around, confused know that I was out of my hazy stupor of vampires and their insane stories.

"Yeah." I grimaced. "This is it."

That sentence sounded more true then ever. We were dealing with a true psycho path here. I hope we were all ready for what was about to come. Or at least I hope Riley was.

"So what do you guys need these things for again?"

I stood at the door of Alaric Saltzmans' house. We decided that it was not a good idea to clue Rick in on what we were doing in fear that he would try to stop us or something crazy like that. He also didn't know that Riley was a vampire…well what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I hoped.

"Oh nothing. Just going to take a cruz. You can never be to prepared." I winked at Rick, "You know what I mean."


	22. Crazy house

_You guys all have free reign to hate me. I won't be offended…much. I know that I have not posted in forever and I am genuinely sorry. But I have a new story and it is called "Sacrificed" It is also a Damon/Elena story. So here you go. I hope you likey!_

"So…are we there yet?" I still wasn't that clear on where _there _actually was.

"No, Elena. For the thousandths time we are not there. If you stopped asking every 15 minutes then I am sure that the time will pass by a little quicker."

Fine, if Riley was going to be that way then I wasn't going to say anything…in the next 15 minutes. I settled down deeper in my seat and lay my head against the window. Everything was just so bright here. The trees swayed a peaceful green and as far as the eye could see there was wheat. Miles and miles of wheat. All golden brown and sweetly shiny.

"So how long do we have exactly. You can't just tell me to be quiet and then not expect me to wonder. Even vampires get anxious, right?" They probably didn't.

I know what your probably thinking. Why wasn't I freaking out over Damon and Stefan's lives? Should I be freaking out right now? The truth is, is that I had cried so much the previous night that I didn't have a drop of emotion in me. It was gone, just like the tears that fell down my cheeks and to my pillow. Right now I was just trying to focus on what I was going to do when we actually got there. Wherever that may be. Was I going to help Riley get Damon and Stefan out and then risk myself getting killed along the way? Was I going to stay in the car and bite my nails nervously while I awaited for their return? What if they didn't return? I almost couldn't bare the mere thought of it. If I lost Damon, Stefan and riley (who was my only hope, now) there would simply be no reason to live. Nothing, no will of anything. But then I had to think of all the drama that was going to go down if we all made it safely back to Mystic Falls. I had no clue to how I was going to break this to Stefan. I could ask to stay friends but he would probably refuse, maybe even leave. I defiantly didn't want that. I may not have loved him as much as I used to, those feelings had been somewhat replaced by Damon, but there was most certainly that love feeling in my heart. The kind of heat that made everything swell and pulsate in wonderful red colors. I wanted that, I wanted him safe. But most of all I wanted Damon to be safe. I could live fine if everything went my way just for once. I would be forever grateful and then some. But for right now I wouldn't allow my self to think of the worst possible scenarios. Those thought hurt too much to be proceeded.

I allowed myself to stay quiet for a couple more minutes until a large opening made me acutely aware of my surroundings. The sky had darkened slightly, making everything a wonderful orange glazed haze. It was magnificent but it didn't fit the mood. There should have been thunder, lightning and every natural disaster ever made up. The world had the right to burst into flames and shake it's way down to hell. Something like that, anyway.

"Why are we stopping?" I demanded "Are we here?"

"Shh. Be quiet, she'll here you." Riley took one finger and pressed it to my lips. Obviously shutting up was the key thing here.

I didn't have to ask who the "she" was. Katherine. And I wanted her gone. Dead, gone, burning in hell. All of it. She could go rot in the tomb and I wouldn't bat an eyelash once.

"Nothings here! Isn't there supposed to be a house right around here." I was at my most anxious now. I couldn't wait any longer. But Riley obviously wasn't listening to me. He was too bust groping in the back of the car, probably looking for appropriate tools to use against Katherine. Thanks to Alaric we had everything from vervain bombs to good ol' fashion stakes. Even I could use these things without getting myself fatally injured. Well, I think.

I started to unbuckle my seat belt and jimmy at the lock to my door, trying to get out. I turned slowly back over to Riley, who was smirking gently. The smile reminded me of Damon. Reckless with a touch of crazy with a pinch of love.

"I'm going." I said it like I was ordering eggs. By this point I was willing to sacrifice my own two legs.

Riley opened his side of the car and looked at me hard. If you come with me you will die. It's as simple as that. You can't have it both ways." He suddenly shifted uncomfortably. "My sister thinks I'm working with her. She lets me in, she turns her back for five seconds and I'm out of there with both you're Salvatore's. All you have to do it stay here and focus on breathing. Then you just trust me."

"What if you don't come back? What then? I can't just drive away!" I don't know if I was whining or my voice was just bordering on hysteria. My fingers were turning an ugly shade of white as I clutched the dashboard with both of my hands.

But he didn't answer me. He just shut the door, winked at me and then mouthed the words 'stay'.

Knowing the circumstance and all that was on the line I knew that the sensible thing to do would be to stay in the car and try so hard not to look like a damsel in distress that it hurt, but I just couldn't do that. It wasn't the way I was raised. I was taught to go after what you needed. In other words I was going to get this and I could be marked as a spoiled brat if people so choosed. I was going to do a stupid thing and hey, not like it was the first time.

By the time Riley had disappeared into the vast horizon like some prince off on his way to his own beheading, I decided that if I walked fast enough I could make good time and possibly, maybe catch up with him and tell him how unreasonable he was being.

As I yanked at the door a slow kind of dread pulsed through my veins. The door was still locked. Well of course it was. Riley wasn't a stupid kid.

The seat was weighed down even more as I huffed and looked at the window, narrowing my eyes. Suddenly, I jerked forward, rummaging through the console and all it's contents. Bingo. A screwdriver, old and rusty but it would have to do, felt awkward and big in my hands, probably because I was planning on smashing in my window with it.

I took in a giant gulp of air that made my head slightly spin and pushed forward with all the force in my arms. The shock of the impact made my arms shack and ears ring. But it had done some good, for the window left a beautiful spider web pattern that I would have pondered over longer if the situation wasn't so dire. Instead I let my hand fly forward again and the window let out a high pitched cracking sound.

Again and again I did this until my hand was swollen and all my finger nails were broken and bloody. With a cry of pure rage I threw down the screwdriver, making it bounce off the hard interior and taking a chunk out of the smooth surface.

This was it. Riley was going to die, Damon was going to die and Stefan was going to die. And you know who wasn't going to die? Katherine! And it was probably because I wasn't strong enough to break open the god damn window and crawl out by myself.

At time like these, usually drastic time, I found myself longing to be a vampire. I could just rip off the door like it was nothing and speed up to Riley in under two seconds, then I could help him kill Katherine and get everybody home safe and sound. On top of that I could have super hearing and super speed and super everything. I even heard from Damon that sex was a helluva lot better. But I wasn't going to get into those steaming details just yet.

For some reason the whole topic of my being a vampire made me laugh. It wasn't the happy kind of laugh, it was the sad kind. Tears slipped unnoticed down my face and I silently picked up the red screwdriver again, just to throw it against the window one more time to vent out my anger.

I was prepared just to give in right then, prepare for a long night of worrying and unspoken heartache when I heard something. Another one of those high sounding crackling sounds. My head snapped to the window and I watched in amazement as the sharp, precise cracks finally gave way and exploded in a puff of smoke.

For a while all I could do was stare in amazement at what I had done. I was like a genuine vampire already. Now was the hard part. I had to figure out a way to actually get out of the car without puncturing myself.

I briefly looked around, trying to find a different way to go at this, but it proved impossible. I nervously looked back at the window, biting one of my recently broken nails. I was just going to have to jump. If I hurt myself then I hoped I lived.

Twisting my body to get in the right position I cautiously swung my right leg out and ground my teeth against the glass ripping in the very inside of my thigh. I looked down. Who knew that it was such a long ways down. Now I just had to swing my other leg over and I knew automatically that this was going to hurt more than hell itself. Wincing, I swung my other leg over and I was finally sitting on the edge of the window, crouching over since I was a lot bigger than the space itself. Okay this was going to hurt whenever I sat down. My pants tore and flesh blood ran from the two most embarrassing spots I could imagine. I somehow mustered enough strength to slip from the window that was no longer there and land with a loud thud on the ground. You think that the wheat would be able to soften my landing but if anything it made at all that much harder.

The sky was much darker than before and ahead of me looked impossible to travel through. Each step I took I didn't even know if it was the right direction and it hurt more each time. How were my wounds even going to heal at this pace? I probably needed stitches as far as I knew.

At first I thought that all hope was lost but I restrained from jumping in circles and shouting to the world that I wasn't a complete failure after all. A house. This ugly broken down warehouse was the single most wonderful thing in the world. It was like something in a SAW movie…with vampires.

It was honestly the ugliest, most disturbing thing I had ever seen. It suited Katherine just fine. I didn't even know how possible this was actually, how the old shack could still hold up with four vampires in it.

I briefly looked around, looking for any unnoticed vampires that should have been lurking around here. But there was nothing, just wheat slightly swaying in the breeze. It left a sickly honey sweet smell.

This was the time I started running. Well, it was sort of like running. I had to be careful not to make to much sound, even though I was sure that Katherine could hear me as soon as I got out of the car, and my legs burnt so much I has to look down to make sure that they weren't really on fire. They weren't but they sure were bloody. The ugly house was closer and closer and the fear I got when I was up close was enough to make me gag. It smelly of rot and blood. It made me wonder if Katherine had taken others here to torture and then leave them to rot…or get eaten by the rats that I knew were around her somewhere. But somehow I had to put all those thought out of my head, especially when I went to grab the rusty, spider web covered doorknob that was practically falling off it's hinges.

The massive door opened with a sickening creak, and I held my breath. No Katherine so far. I was good. If I thought that outside of the house smelt bad then the inside smelt a thousand times worse. It was like horse stable that hadn't been cleaned in a billion years. Then multiply that by ten and you know exactly what this rancid smell was like. Infect, this might have been a horse stable. Little enclosures were separated by thin walls covered in spiders and a lonely light flickered ghastly above my head. I wanted to take in a deep breath but I knew if I did then I would puke my guts up.

_What are you doing, Elena? Your going to get yourself slaughtered. No one will even know where you body is. She'll probably make you watch Damon and Stefan get killed. _I spun around and a realized that this was my own voice mocking me, not Katherine's. The little voice in my head was still telling me to turn back but I had come this far and I was sure as hell that I was not turning back without a fight.

I walked slowly through this small house of horrors. It wasn't that big so where was everybody? I checked every nook and cranny and there was just nothing. Nothing but spiders and dog crap that I didn't even know where it came from.

For about the millionth time today I was just about ready to give up and sit down on the filthy ground, but then I saw something. It was like a cellar with stairs going down. I didn't necessarily want to go down but I knew that was probably my best bet of where everybody was. I slowly tested a crumbling stair with the edge of my shoe and managed to stay upright when little pieces of it gave away and pitter-patted down into the dark hole. Looks like I was going down either falling or snapping both of my legs in half. It was just going to have to do.

Step by step I managed to stumble myself deeper into the pit. I had to clue where I was going or what I was doing. If Katherine was here then she would have already been here to rip my head off and then eat my heart or something. Or maybe she was waiting for me. Fine, let her do just that. I had a stack in my back pocket and I had one shot to get this right. But as I took another step I realized something. Where was Riley? He promised that everything was going to be fine. What if he was dead? Oh god, what was I going to do. He was honest to god my last hope and he probably was just gone just as soon as he appeared. Without him I never, ever would have found the house where Damon and Stefan supposedly were and none of this probably would have never been. He couldn't be gone. Not after everything.

Another step and I would be on solid, un-crumbling ground again, free to face whatever the hell was down here. But as I got off the last step I didn't even see anything. There were torches slightly lighting the way and that was about it. That and miles worth of walking ahead me.

Cold fear trickled into my heart. I was going to have to walk now. As long as nothing creepy or anything with fangs jumped out at me I could bear through this.

_Okay, Elena._ I thought _Now is the time to list all the bad things about vampires. _I allowed myself a breath this time. I was getting painfully accustomed to this horrible smell. _One, if you get on their bad side they will kill you. _Another step and I heard something. A moaning sound. I walked faster. _Two, they drink blood and if you come across them odds our it will be you're blood. _This time it was a scream and this time I ran, hard. _Three, they are evil and won't blink when they snap you in half…then drink you're blood. _My legs were tired and my lungs burned. But I had to go faster. _But the good thing about them? Too many to count. But the most important of them all was that I was in love with them._

I screeched to a halt. "Oh. My. God." In one of the corners was what I feared most. Stefan and Damon strewn across the ground. They would have been dead if it wasn't for the slight motions of their chests moving. Other than that they were lifeless. I threw myself on the ground, getting my knees covered in muck, and frantically moved my hands in useless attempts to do something that would help them. My eyes stayed on Damon the whole time but I occasionally glanced at Stefan too.

I smoothed the silky black hair from Damon's forehead and looked down. This time I couldn't bite down my sob. The beautiful body to which I had made love with was now covered in mud, sweat and blood. There was not a part of his body that wasn't torn up or scratched or perfect like it usually was. How long had the gashes been there? Why weren't they heeling like they were supposed to?

"Come on, Damon. Wake up. You need to wake up!" I stroked one of his bloody cheeks, taking off my cotton jacket and dabbing at it.

I don't exactly know how but by some miracle his eyelids fluttered open. Maybe it was because he smelt me on my jacket or maybe he would have woken up at this exact time anyway. I was always right on time.

I was faced with the purest blue eyes I would probably ever face.

"Elena," Even though he said those words I never saw his lips move.

I quickly told him to be quiet and continued wiping at his face. I just couldn't stop crying…but then I noticed something. We needed to get the hell out of here, now.

"Can you get up? We need to go before she gets back." Where was Katherine? Surly she knew better than to leave her minions alone at a time like this.

"She?" Damon attempted to get up and actually managed to sit like a normal person, and not someone who had just been brutally beaten. "What are you talking about?"

"Katherine. She took you. What are _you _talking about?" I think I had a feeling where this was going.

"It was a boy. Not Katherine. Stefan managed to run her out." Damon struggled to his feet and I was surprised to watch as most of his deep cuts started to heal.

The excitement finally started to sink in. Damon was right in front of me again. With a sob I threw myself in his arms, almost knocking him off his feet again. I buried my head in the crook of his neck. He smelt of love, sweat and something else spicy. It was the most wonderful smell in the world. But we weren't out of this yet. If Katherine didn't do this then who did?

I looked at Damon's face again. His lovely eyes were wide with something. Was it fear? I never thought I would see the day. If Damon was scared then I should be running like a bat out of hell.

Slowly, I turned around. The lights of the torches were flickering off his beautiful face. Those eyes that I had trusted to save me and the Salvatore brothers were now filled with a mocking hatred. They practically shouted at me that I had lost the moment he had set foot in my house. He slowly cocked his head to one side.

"You're brave. I never thought you of all people would come to save you're beloved vampires. You think you can just wrap any of us around you're little finger and call us your own."

Damon whipped me around so I was hiding behind his back, but I wasn't done."I trusted you!" I screamed "Your as big a bitch as your sister!"

He didn't show any sign of hurt. He just smiled slightly. "You are _just _like her. It's amusing actually. Both fucking the Salvatore's at the same time, pretending to love them at the same time. Everything. You even look the same. So, naturally, you do the same things. I will enjoy killing you."

I looked at the boy that I had trusted and the man that I loved. We were trapped and probably not going anywhere for some time.

Riley. He was going to kill us and it was all my fault.

We weren't safe. Not even a little bit.


	23. The Almost Happily Ever After

_Oh .My. God! You guys are the absolute best! I honestly don't know what I would do without your amazing support each day. I honestly may never stop writing because of all your reviews! Okay…on with the story…_

We were cornered; no where to go, and with Stefan was still unconscious it looked like none of us were going to get out of here alive. Right now it was all a matter of who made the first move and I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be me. Maybe it wasn't going to be Riley either. Maybe he wanted the joy of watching us grovel on our feet for forgiveness. But what had we done to make him so mad? Was it only just because I looked like _her_? Like Katherine? That seemed to be the problem of the century. Not only was she going to get me killed but she was going to get me killed also.

"I'm genuinely surprised you two love birds don't remember."

My head snapped up as Riley spoke and beside me Damon's hand clutched into a fist, like he wanted to claw Riley's un-beating heart out of his chest.

Something inside me shifted; lurched. Instead of only feeling fear for this terrible monster I had once trusted I only felt rage. It was so strong it almost knocked me off my feet. I wasn't accustomed to feeling such hatred for one person, not even Katherine. And I had the most rights in the world to hate that women.

"What are you talking about? Enough with the bullshit! If you're going to kill us then do it already…You're just like your pathetic sister. Never had the guts to kill us." I was slowly inching my way from behind Damon's protection but he only watched with a fascinated type horror, mouth open wide.

Riley's smirk was know a full blown grin, like his ego only fed off other peoples rage and hate for him. "I am nothing like my sister." It wasn't a growl nor was it a regular speaking voice. This was something huge, something powerful.

I managed a laugh even though Damon was struggling to put my under his protection again. "That's the funny thing. I have spent this whole year pretending that I am nothing like Katherine. And while people automatically believed that…I never really did. I fell in love with both Salvatore brothers, just like she did. I know I am going to have to hurt one of them," I looked at Stefan. He appeared so desperate and broken lying on the floor like that. I felt a soft pang in my heart. "Just like she did. So the more you try to pretend that you are nothing like her…the more you become like her. I am living proof of that. Katherine's blood runs in you're veins." I didn't know how I got there but I was suddenly right in front of Riley. He was breathing too hard. "So until you are dead you are _everything_ like her." I wasn't really talking about Riley anymore and Damon could tell that. I was talking about me and how I was more like her than I could ever know. It scared me.

"She doesn't care about me! It was always about killing you! And guess who fell through the cracks? I finally realized that she cares nothing for me. She would have let me die in exchange for your life. It was always you. So I decided that I would see what was so special about you."

"It was you," I gasped "It was you in the woods that night, watching me."

"Well, yes. But the things you were doing with Damon were not for the eyes of the birds."

I didn't enough room in my body to feel embarrassed. I was too filled up on running adrenaline and the horrible realization that I should have noticed before.

"That was what I finally knew what my sister wanted with you. So really I am here as a favor. She gets you and I get the respect from her that I never had gotten before." He said it with such confidence that I almost thought it was Damon speaking.

"Why not just lure me in by myself?" I demanded "Why not just leave Stefan and Damon out of this?"

Riley waved a hand and put his weight on his left leg, almost like he was having a normal conversation. Good. That is was I wanted. For him to relax until it was time for Damon to attack. All part of my master plan. After all, I wasn't some petty human.

"Leverage. And if Stefan and Damon knew that I had kidnapped you they would have come running to you're aid. Just like they always do." They was a note of self pity for a while. "That's what I envy about you."

For a moment I could just stare at him, not believing what my ears were receiving. Why should he envy me. He was beautiful, strong, smart. Smart enough to get me trapped in here. Sounds like he was winning the game here so why would he possible have the energy to be jealous?

"Everybody loves you. Stefan, Damon, brother, aunt, friends. I. Have. Nobody." A slow smile crept up to his lips "And pretty soon you won't either. They'll all be dead."

I wasn't really aware of what happened in the next couple of seconds. My head was still spinning from all the information that I had just received. There was a time when all I wanted was love, affection. It was right after my parents died. I felt that there was nothing in the world left for me to live for. It was a horribly desperate feeling, nothing I would like to look forward to or wish upon anybody.

The only thing I was aware of was my being thrown against a wall and a torch falling near me. Stefan was beside me. How could he have not woken up by now? In all this commotion he should have woken up by now. I glanced over to Damon and Riley, or at least there blurring figures. They were still thankfully occupied.

I took the stake hidden in my back pocket and dragged it across the inside of my wrist. I gritted my teeth at the sharp pain. I remember the first time that I had given Stefan my blood. I thought I was doing him a solid and I really just royally screwed up everything. He became addicted. Now I just had to hold my breath and hope that it didn't happen like that again.

When I pressed my blood to his mouth I didn't get a response at first. Then his eyelashes fluttered and he brought his hands to my wrist, pulling my closer. I felt everything. The fangs, the blood leaving my body and just when I was about to pass out he pulled away. His eyes were dilated, like he had spent too much time in the dark, but he looked stronger none the less. I hoped it was enough. Know I just had to send him out there like a solider to the war.

"I can't explain this all now but I need you to go out there and kill Riley. Use this." I pressed the stake into his outstretched palm. "Be careful, please." I was not going to loose him if I had the choice.

Stefan didn't have to be told twice. He launched himself toward the other two spitting and fighting vampires while I pressed my already blood spotted coat onto my wrist. I was forced to watch as the blurred figures tore and clawed at each other. It was amazing really, but I would have felt better knowing that Riley wasn't going to make it out of here alive.

I sat there for another minute, crouching in the corner, until a flickering light caught the corner of my eye. It was the torch. I looked at the vampires and then back to the fire. What were the possibilities of hitting Riley anyway? I couldn't even tell who was who right now. It was all a black blur to me. But I still crawled over to it and grabbed it with my tired, aching fingers. As I sat back down and watched the brilliant flame I noticed something. My thighs and butt ached. I was about to shot up and inspect myself when I realized that I had done this while trying to get out of the car. At least the bleeding had stopped. My jeans were ruined though.

Wait, that reminded me…I had a stake hidden in my sock. But what would that do? Even if I did have a stake and a torch I was still a human. A human that couldn't do anything to save her life, that is. But a couple of years ago I wouldn't have thought that. I probably would have distracted Riley with the torch or something horribly idiotic like that and then when he was distracted I would have had either Damon or Stefan stake him in the heart, or maybe I could have done it. I had killed a vampire once before. What was wrong with me? Have I lost all self confidence.

So with all the available breath in my lungs, I screamed, "Stop!" And everything did stop.

The snarling stopped, the inhuman running stopped. Everything just stopped and they all stared at me like I has set off the first Atomic Bomb. But I only focused on the fact that Riley stopped, and that was the stupidest thing he could have ever done.

With my left arm I threw the torch and with my right arm I chucked the stake at him. I knew that he was going to catch both of them and he did, but what he didn't realize was that I had planned it all to happen this way. As soon as he caught both objects, I glanced at Stefan, who winked at me. Then, with a blur, he was behind Riley. The stake went through his back, piercing his heart. Just like I had planned.

With a couple of gasping and coughing sounds, Riley dropped to the ground, the ugly grey veins appearing in his face and down his neck. It all happened in what seemed like five seconds.

It was all over as soon as it was started. I let out a breath I had probably been holding ever since I had dropped out of that damn car.

The fact that I had just helped murder a vampire didn't really register until I heard Damon take a shuddering breath, but when I did I took both of them in my arms and just cried like the little warrior I am.

I knew things were not how they were supposed to be, I loved Damon and not Stefan, Katherine was still after me and I'm pretty sure that some other crappy thing was going to happen to me in the next four hours, but I still felt happy, content. I had both brothers back and I knew that I was going to get a long night of sleep…As soon as I broke the news to Stefan. This would be fun.

VDVDVD

"I know what you're going to say. That is one of the many things about you- you're face is too easy to read."

Okay, so what if it was. I was expecting to build up the suspense and not have him know the words before I even said them.

Damon was up in his room, probably listening even though I told him not to, waiting for me just to rip the band-aid off and get this over with.

"You don't seem to surprised." I said quietly.

Stefan laughed and shifted on his bed. I had to remind myself that I had spent almost every night on this bed when I was with him. "You and Damon have always felt something for each other, it just took you awhile to realize everything."

"So what you are trying to say is that you left knowing that Damon and I were going to…" I let him think of the possibilities that I was sure he could conclude.

"Sleep with each other." He finished my own sentence with a noticeable grimace.

"Well, I wasn't really going to suggest that. You sure made this really easy though. Why? I don't really deserve for you to be so, I don't know, okay with this."

"Elena," He sighed "I am anything but okay with this. Horrified, yes, but I guess I'm just relieved that you're alive and happy. That's all I want for you."

I wasn't prepared to cry tonight but I felt the familiar sting of salt behind my eyes. "I really did love you. I wasn't just using you to get to Damon like you probably are thinking." I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand.

"I know you weren't, Elena. Something's are better left unsaid."

I nodded. I knew this part of my speech was going to get me burned some time.

"But I'm glad you did."

I looked up, hopeful. I felt a load of weight lift off my shoulders. He didn't hate me!

I felt Stefan lean in and press a kiss to my forehead. I couldn't help inhale. His smell reminded me of all the good times we had. The first time we met, the first kiss, when I found out his deepest secret, our rough times, the first night we spent together. Everything, I remembered all of it.

"You better go." He said as he pulled away "I can hear Damon waiting for you upstairs."

I watched as he lifted himself up from the bed and walked out of his door. "Wait!" I called after him "Where are you going."

Stefan's head came from behind the door "Hunting. I wanted to leave you and Damon alone while you… Never mind. Bye 'Lena"

"Bye." I whispered, but he was already gone.

I knew what he was going to say even if I never really heard it. He didn't want to be here when me and Damon had a little reunion party…in his bed. Nobody wanted to be here when things like that happened.

Know there was nothing to do except go back up to Damon, and that is exactly what I did. I found Damon right where I had left him, sprawled out across his-our bed.

"Did you listen?" I asked as I lay down next to him.

All he did was shake his head. "Is it bad that I should feel pity for him? That I should feel bad? I was the one that took you away for him."

"It's not bad to feel human, Damon. For the most part he seemed not to bothered by it."

"Then he was lying. You don't even know how much he have loved you. He loved you more than I loved Katherine. Except that she never loved me."

I sighed and flipped over onto my stomach, watching as the sun slowly went down in the sky. "So does this mean that we are doomed to repeat the past?"

I felt Damon grab me around the waist and pull me to his chest. I felt a tad bit better now.

"You saved us today. I'm just trying to think of ways to repay you." A smirk was delicately placed on his face.

"Your avoiding the question." But all the same I couldn't help but smile.

"Ugg, Elena. If I answer your question then can you let it drop? I don't know if you realized this but I am a very impatient person."

I smiled again. "Just answer the question, please."

"Alright, if I said that we weren't repeating the past then I would be lying because what we are doing right now is exactly what we shouldn't be doing."

Laughing, I rolled until I was lying on his chest. "Then why do you keep coming back for me?"

Damon chuckled "May I remind you that you were the one who saved me today, and may I be the one to say that I am forever grateful.""I'm sure you are." I whispered as I pressed my lips against his, seeking comfort and fire all in one.

Hopefully tonight would be the best night of my life. I just had to count on Damon to do the rest.

And hopefully here I would stay for the rest of my life.

Just like I wished and hoped for.

I realized in this instance that I was going to be okay.

THE END…

_Alright, I have been working on this story for a loooong time now and I realized that this should probably be my last chapter. Don't hate me too much. But I do have another story called "Sacrificed" and I am only on the second chapter._

_I love you all sooooo much!_

_Love, Eden…_

_P.S. Do you guys think I should do a sequel story? One that would contain more of Katherine? Tell me what you guys think! _


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